


When I tell you I hate you

by AbigailKinney4life



Category: Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Love, M/M, Romance, Survival
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-09-18
Updated: 2014-06-05
Packaged: 2017-11-14 13:27:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 27,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/515692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbigailKinney4life/pseuds/AbigailKinney4life
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Daryl and his boyfriend Glenn get thrust into a world full of walkers and begin to search with the rest of their group for the cure at the CDC, but when Glenn gets infected by a Walker, will Daryl have enough time to save the man he loves? Slash x</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Happens so fast

When I tell you I hate you...

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters, they belong to their respective owners.

A/N: There's not really much to say, thought I'd try my hand at a Daryl/Glenn slash, see how it pans out. I'm generally an alternating POV type writer but I've done some third person stuff, this story seems to work better in third person. Your thoughts would be really appreciated, hope you enjoy xxx

Chapter One: Happens so fast.

It was finally quitting time and Glenn had never been so glad to see the clock hit 7, he hated working this late and he knew it wasn't fair. But he'd be damned if he was gonna start a "workers rights" argument with his boss, that would only guarantee he lost his job.

Glenn knew working as a pizza delivery boy wasn't much of a job but it was one he needed to help him work his way through college. It's not that his parents wouldn't help him out if he needed it, but his family had never been that well off and he didn't want to start asking them for money they didn't have.

Glenn just wasn't that kind of guy.

But today was one of those days where you wouldn't really care if the world ended, Glenn thought to himself. He was tired, he was cold and he'd been stuck on that death trap of a company moped all day, he had kinks in his muscles he didn't think he'd ever work out.

Glenn didn't go straight home, he knew he'd never sleep like that, he stopped off at a little bar he'd never been in before, and it seemed a nice enough place.

One of those plushly furnished, family-run bars you got on soap operas.

Glenn took one of the bar stools and waved the bartender over to him.

"What can I getcha, son?" He asked, wiping a beer glass with a rag as he spoke.

How cliché. Glenn thought to himself.

"Just a beer, thanks." Glenn said, tapping his fingers against the bar.

He looked up to see the suspicious look the bartender was giving him. "Can I see some I.D, son?" He asked, causing Glenn to roll his eyes. He got this every fucking time, and it irritated the hell out of him.

Glenn dug deep into his wallet and pulled out his drivers license, handing it to the man who studied it carefully and then smiled slightly.

"Sorry, kid. You're older than you look." He handed Glenn back the I.D and produced a bottle from under the bar that he handed to Glenn, and suddenly Glenn wasn't so annoyed any more.

"No problem, man." He replied, just to make sure there were no hard feelings, taking a sip from the bottle and relaxing into that familiar taste.

Glenn put the beer bottle on the bar and began to stretch his arms around his back, turning his neck from side to side to try and release the kinks from his muscles, he felt marginally better.

It was at that moment, however, that Glenn saw him for the first time. He was sat on the other side of the bar wearing a black wife beater. He was a good few years older than Glenn and had light-ish brown hair that fell lightly over his eyes. Glenn noticed the slender muscles in his arm as he brought a glass to his lips and downed a shot of what Glenn supposed was whiskey. There was something about this man that Glenn couldn't look away from, he suspected out of everything it was probably his deep, bedroom eyes.

The bartender that served Glenn then walked over to the man and leant against the bar, Glenn pretended not to be listening but he was.

"Hey, Daryl," the bartender began, "where's Merle? Haven't seen him in the past few days."

"Probably banged up for starting a fight with some guy a few days ago," "Daryl" replied in a sexy southern drawl. "Heard the guy lost his front teeth out of it."

The bartender chuckled. "Yeah, sounds like Merle. Wha'chu been up to then, Daryl? Ain't seen you for the past few days, neither."

Daryl shrugged, making Glenn notice the muscles in his shoulders again. "Fuck all." He answered.

"That might change." The bartender told him, and Glenn watched as Daryl looked up.

"Yeah? Whys that?"

The bartender leant forward. "There's some kid eyeing you up across the bar."

Oh God, Glenn thought.

He turned away immediately, feeling his cheeks burning in pure embarrassment. That fucking bartender didn't have to rat me out. He thought. Dammit.

Glenn prayed that Daryl would take one look at him and lose interest, maybe leave or just not think to bring it up.

After about a minute he turned back and breathed a sigh of relief, Daryl was gone. Maybe he'd just gone home? Taken one look at Glenn and decided...

"Hey, can I buy you a drink, kid?" Came that same husky, southern accent Glenn had heard across the bar, but this time it was directly in his ear, cool breath ghosting over his skin.

Glenn swivelled around immediately, startled and fell off the bar stool. Strong hands shot out and wrapped themselves around Glenn's form before he hit the floor, Glenn looked up and was suddenly face to face with Daryl. His eyes were even more entrancing close up.

Glenn was too caught up in the moment to realise how much of a dumb ass he'd been to fall off the fucking stool like a love sick teenager. Daryl was so close to him, and...

But the moment seemed to let him go when Daryl retracted his arms from Glenn and rested his hands on the bar, he chuckled slightly and Glenn still didn't have his head clear enough to be angry at himself for being captivated by the sound.

"I'm not that scary, kid." Daryl told the kid, cocking his head to one side as he watched as the kid seemed to realise what he was doing, the pinkish blush spread across his cheeks and Daryl had to fight a smile, it was kinda cute.

"The name's Daryl." He introduced, thinking because they'd practically just cuddled like fucking teenagers they were past handshakes.

"Glenn." He replied, seemingly more aware of his actions now.

Daryl stared at Glenn for a few moments more, Glenn found the scrutinizing gaze unnerving, like he was seeing directly into Glenn's brain with just a look.

"Tough day?" Daryl finally asked.

"Err..." Glenn began, confusion sweeping his mind. "Yeah, how...did you know?"

"I know a man with whose just come out of a tough days work," he gestured to Glenn's arms. "Been stuck in a car or on a bike all day, I bet. The way you were stretching your muscles when you first came in."

"You saw that?" Asked Glenn, blushing again.

"It was fucking distracting." Daryl informed him, dangerously close again.

"I...err, I..." Glenn began, backing away slightly, his breath getting caught in his throat. He knew if he were this close to this mesmerising man for too long he'd do something stupid.

"I have to go." Glenn said quickly, swivelling on one foot and practically running to the door with as much dignity as he could muster.

Daryl leant against the bar as he watched him walk away, he felt the disappointment sweep his stomach.

Then, suddenly, at the door, Glenn turned around to face him.

"C...can I see you again?" He called over quickly.

Daryl cocked his head to the side again and smiled.

…

Less than a month later.

Daryl's pick up truck pulled up slowly in front of Glenn's apartment block, Daryl checked with the address he had written down and knew this was the right place. He parked up and sat in the pick up, he supposed he should have gone and knocked on the door for Glenn but he didn't, he just sat there, drumming his fingers lightly on the steering wheel.

Daryl laughed internally at himself, trying desperately to convince himself he wasn't actually fucking nervous about going on a date with the kid. Daryl Dixon didn't do nervous, Merle would kick his ass if he ever found out, too.

Generally, Daryl would never have gone out on a date, it wasn't his style. Hell, it wasn't Dixon style. But there was something about the kid he wanted to see again, and a date seemed to be the kind of thing he'd be into so Daryl didn't have much of a choice.

He'd tried to organize a date like scenario with as much information as he had. He figured dinner, and a movie...that's how dates went, didn't they?

He'd dressed up all nice...but he hadn't bought Glenn flowers, he'd stopped himself at that. The hell if he'd ever buy anyone flowers.

Glenn checked himself over for the umpteenth time in the mirror on the inside of his closet door, he wasn't sure what he was checking for, really. The rational part of his brain doubted his appearance had changed that much in the five minutes since he'd last checked himself.

Glenn didn't understand why he was so nervous about going on a date with Daryl. I mean, he thought to himself, I don't even know the guy.

And it was true, the men had met once that first time in the bar when Glenn had acted like an absolute idiot, and they'd texted a few times since that to arrange this date but that was it.

But Glenn understood that there was something safe about texting, it was easier speaking to someone you weren't face to face to. It was safer, too.

Glenn was terrified Daryl was gonna hate him or something.

Why would he hate me? Glenn tried to mentally assure himself, I'm not that bad...

Glenn suddenly jumped at the swift knock on his apartment door, he turned around and walked to the door, willing himself not to act as much as an idiot as the first time they met.

Glenn opened the door and drank in Daryl's appearance, so unlike when they had first met. This time, Daryl was wearing a button down dress shirt and light jeans, his hair still fell adorably into his eyes like it had when they met but it was evidently combed, it was obvious Daryl had made an effort.

He looked great.

"You look great," Daryl finally said, breaking off Glenn's ogling by mimicking his thoughts exactly, Glenn felt himself blushing and tried to ward it off.

"Thanks," Glenn finally replied, grinning nervously.

"So..." began Daryl, standing awkwardly in the hallway and palming the pockets of his jeans because he had nothing else to do with his hands. "Do you wanna go?"

"Sure." Said Glenn, maybe a bit too brightly. He stepped out of the apartment and locked it behind him, they both left the building in silence and walked awkwardly together to Daryl's pick up.

When they began dinner things became much more chilled between the pair, once they were in a comfortable environment the awkwardness vanished and they began talking like they'd been friends for years. They talked about a lot of things that didn't really matter, like books and music and TV, but Glenn didn't mind. He felt comfortable, he felt like he was having a really good time.

As Daryl listened to Glenn talk about some crap band Daryl hated like they were God's gift to Earth he really didn't mind, maybe dates weren't that bad after all.

Something definitely had to be said about all of this, even if they personally didn't realise it, there was an instant connection between the two of them, like a spark.

"So," asked Glenn, taking a swig of his beer, "what do you do, then?"

"I work for my old man's garage," Daryl told him without hesitating, he chuckled a little to himself, "I mean, the pays pretty good but it's not that impressive."

Glenn laughed slightly, "I deliver Pizzas." He told Daryl, raising an eyebrow.

Daryl laughed slightly, "yeah, okay."

They both laughed together then, they met each others eyes for a brief moment, before looking away embarrassedly, even Daryl had to admit it was kind of cute.

"Yeah, I'm not really that interesting." Glenn muttered, more to himself than anything else, but apparently Daryl had hawk-like hearing and cocked his head to the side, something Glenn picked up that Daryl did a lot, he was quickly finding it adorable.

"You're al right, really." He told Glenn, in that voice that suggested he shouldn't think badly of himself.

Glenn smiled slightly at Daryl, feeling something he wasn't entirely uncomfortable with in the air.

When they moved onto the movie theatre, they began by sitting on their individual seats, not touching, but in comfortable silence. They watched the movie quite happily, and Glenn thought he might actually like Daryl's choice in film, it was some action/thriller that was actually really interesting.

It might have been the unexplainable thing in the air, it might have been both of them getting lost in the film, it might have just been because they were sat in the dark and couldn't see each other, but somewhere through the course of the two hour film both Daryl and Glenn realised they had their arms snaked around each other lazily, like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Daryl shifted uncomfortably as he felt Glenn's warm body pressed against him, and then suddenly their eyes locked together.

All of a sudden Glenn couldn't care about the climax of the movie.

It felt like almost no time at all when they were suddenly kissing each other like their lives depended on it, Glenn felt Daryl's lips move against his and couldn't help but moan when he felt him push his tongue into Glenn's mouth.

The kiss was perfect and seemed to go on forever until they both inevitably had to break away for air.

Glenn stared up at Daryl; breathing hard and looking gorgeous with swollen lips.

"Do you wanna get out of here?" Daryl asked.

"Fuck yeah." Said Glenn immediately.

Glenn and Daryl stumbled into Glenn's apartment, mouths moulded together like they would never come apart. As soon as they got inside the apartment, Daryl shoved Glenn roughly up against the door but with a gentle edge and pulled his top roughly over his head, before Glenn could say anything, Daryl dipped his head down and licked a gentle, warm path along Glenn's chest, flicking a nipple with his tongue as he made his way up to Glenn's neck. Daryl began to suck tortuously on Glenn's neck and Glenn couldn't contain the throaty moan of pure pleasure that escaped him.

As Daryl continued his attack on Glenn's neck, Glenn reached out blindly and undid the buttons on Daryl's shirt, letting his hands roam free over Daryl's hard muscled, hot skin, he heard Daryl groan against his neck and Glenn slid his hand down Daryl's chest to his jeans, he palmed Daryl's hardness through his jeans.

Groaning at the stimulation, Daryl brought his head up to Glenn's again and kissed him hard on the mouth.

"OH, oh God..." Glenn gasped into Daryl's assaulting mouth, "God, Daryl...please...fuck me."

Daryl groaned loudly, how fucking hot was this kid?

It was in that moment that Daryl knew he couldn't control it, he was completely gone. There was no going back now.

Daryl curled his arm around Glenn's ass and lifted him up, Glenn wrapped his legs around Daryl's waist, they moaned in unison as their erections rubbed together, the friction too sweet between them.

Daryl walked Glenn to the bed and let them both drop onto it, keeping one arm securely around Glenn to make sure he didn't hurt himself.

Climbing on top of Glenn, Daryl caught sight of Glenn's flushed face and tantalisingly swollen red lips.

Daryl felt himself go crazy as he kissed Glenn again, hard, swallowing Glenn's moans as he wrestled the kid out of his jeans.

Glenn moaned as he mimicked Daryl's actions and dragged the older man's jeans midway down his muscular thighs. Glenn couldn't think straight, he was under Daryl's spell and he couldn't break away from it. It was something about the way Daryl looked, or maybe the way he smelled...Glenn didn't know...all he knew was that he wanted more.

Glenn finally freed Daryl's hard member from it's confines and stared in awe but nervousness at Daryl's impressive cock.

Daryl caught the look Glenn was giving him and knew what was worrying the kid, he knew he was hung, he knew it was a good thing but it scared some people, especially people who were...

"Glenn, is this your first time, with a guy at least?"

Glenn sat up slightly, "no, no it's not," he admittedly honestly, "I've just..." he blushed slightly, "I've never had anyone as...big as you."

"I promise to go slow." Daryl promised in a whisper.

Glenn stared up into Daryl's beautiful, bedroom darkened eyes and felt a wave of emotion in his stomach, he laid back down slowly and stared up into Daryl's eyes, willing him to continue.

Daryl prepared both of them quickly, rolling a condom onto his cock. Daryl leant forward and entered Glenn slowly, watching in awe at the face Glenn made when he did that, it was...like nothing Daryl had ever seen before. He wasn't exactly an emotional type of guy, but there was just something about this kid...

When Daryl was fully sheathed inside Glenn's tight warmth, it took all of his will power not to move, it was only after a few moments that Glenn stroked Daryl's face.

"I'm okay." Glenn whispered, a thin sheen of sweat covering his face.

Daryl began to rock slowly inside of Glenn, keeping to his promise, and Glenn began to moan softly, his eyes closed.

"Daryl...please, faster!" He whimpered in a breathy moan, Daryl began to move faster, feeling himself lose it completely as the pair made love deep into the night.

Glenn woke up the next day to the sunlight shining brightly through the closed curtain, he angled his head up to see the still sleeping Daryl with his arm curved languidly across the pillows, Glenn stared contentedly at his lover for a few long moments before he allowed any semblance of thought to come to him. He couldn't get it out of his head, everything that had happened last night...his explosive orgasm, the way Daryl had looked when he came...

Glenn suddenly felt a wave of worry come over him as he thought about it, maybe he shouldn't have put out on the first date? Didn't that just add to the shitty gay stereotype?

But as he again looked at Daryl pleasantly sleeping, his worries slipped away for now. He cuddled up against the older man and closed his eyes.

I could get used to this, he thought.

…

Two years later.

Daryl parked the pick up in front of his and Glenn's apartment and hopped out with a skip in his step, carrying the bouquet of roses he'd bought on the way home from work in his hand.

Glenn was already in the apartment they had shared for four months of their year and a half relationship, he was contentedly painting the wall of the living room and humming to himself, he didn't hear Daryl come in.

Daryl cocked his head to one side as he looked at his boyfriend, painting and humming to himself, obviously oblivious to Daryl's presence. Daryl quietly laid the roses down on the coffee table and crept up behind Glenn, there was something Daryl found completely hilarious about scaring his boyfriend, maybe it was the girlish way Glenn yelped, or the way he would jump into the protection of Daryl's arms.

As soon as Daryl reached Glenn, he snaked his arms around his boyfriends waist and began tickling him in earnest. Glenn immediately jumped from the contact and the tickle torture and twisted in Daryl's arms.

"D..daarr..yyyll! st ..opp!" Glenn laughed, "...sss...tttoppppp!"

Glenn twisted fully round in Daryl's arms and the pair immediately met in a passionate kiss, once the kiss was over, Glenn gave Daryl a shit eating grin and twisted back around again and continued painting the wall where he'd left off, Daryl's arms still firmly tucked around his waist.

Daryl rested his head on Glenn's shoulder and gave the wall a funny look. "What the hell kinda colour is that?" He asked, sounding vaguely confused.

"It's called "Sunset Hue"," Glenn pouted, "and I like it."

Daryl shook his head. "Mental note, don't let Glenn redecorate ever again." He said playfully.

Glenn laughed but it sounded more like a snort. "I hate you." He half-giggled.

Daryl then bit down playfully on Glenn's neck, and with one hand reached behind him and fished the bouquet blindly off of the coffee table.

"I hate you, too." Daryl teased playfully, producing the roses in front of Glenn.

Glenn twisted his head and gave a pleasantly surprised look to Daryl, taking the roses and sniffing them, thinking about how romantic Glenn discovered Daryl really was after he really got to know him.

Daryl and Glenn really loved each other, and had no issues with saying it to each other, but telling each other they hated each other had kind of become their own private code for "I love you, really."

It was like it was a special way of telling each other they cared because no one else was allowed in on it, Daryl and Glenn weren't particularly soppy people, Daryl the very least, but maybe it was their subconscious reminding them that men could have feelings too.

Daryl gave Glenn a quick peck on the side of the neck before unwinding his arms from his boyfriends waist and moving to the coffee table where their mail was stacked, he began flicking through the usual post until he came to a letter addressed to Jenny Farnham, the sweet college grad who'd just moved in next door.

"Hey, we got one of Jen's letters." Daryl told Glenn.

"Oh." Said Glenn in acknowledgement.

"I'll just drop it next door," Daryl decided, "be back in a sec."

"'Kay." Said Glenn, refreshing his brush as he continued to paint.

Daryl walked out into the hall of the apartment building and quickly knocked on the door directly next to theirs. When he knocked, however, the door opened like it had been smashed in from the other side.

A wave of confusion washed over Daryl, he walked into the apartment slowly, purely just to make sure Jenny was al right.

"Jenny?" He called out, "you okay? I saw the door was bashed in, what happened?"

Daryl waited for a moment but there was no reply, he looked around the living room of the apartment and saw the place was trashed, what the hell had happened here?

"Jenny?" He called again, louder this time. He suddenly stopped as he heard scuffling coming from the other room, he walked slowly to the door and opened it, not expecting the sight that met him.

It was Jenny, al right, but she was covered in blood, and had massive, gouged-out bite marks covering her arms where the flesh had literally been ripped out, her eyes were glazed over and she was...snarling.

Daryl immediately shouted out from shock as he saw the state of her. "Jenny?" He asked again, "Oh my God, what happened?"

She then growled and lunged for him, Daryl bolted out of the apartment out of instinct and ran into his and Glenn's apartment, he closed the door immediately, shaking slightly.

"Daryl, what's wrong?" Glenn asked immediately, worry clouding his eyes.

"Something wrong with Jenny." Daryl breathed out, he jumped away from the door as something started banging and scratching at it, he could hear the same snarling noise Jenny had made at him earlier. Glenn made a noise close to a squeak and jumped behind Daryl on instinct, Daryl kept Glenn behind him as the door began to break under Jenny's momentum.

"Daryl, what's going on?" Glenn asked, the fear evident in his voice. Daryl didn't have time to answer as he bolted to the spare room, grabbed his hunting crossbow he hadn't picked up in years and then met Glenn in the living room again just as the door cracked open and the thing that used to be Jenny broke through.

Glenn screamed at Jenny's appearance and Daryl used his superior strength to shove Glenn behind him, using his own body as a shield.

He held his crossbow aloft.

"Jenny, please," Daryl tried desperately to talk some sense into her, or whatever it was, "you don't know what you're doing, just..." But when she snarled and lunged at them it was evident she wasn't listening, reverting to his sharp-shooting hunting days, Daryl fired the crossbow and hit her directly in the forehead, in the exact spot he'd aimed for.

She fell to the floor and didn't move again.

Glenn fell to the floor then, breathing heavily and staring in fear at the thing on the floor.

"Are you al right?" Daryl asked urgently.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Glenn assured his boyfriend. "What about you?"

"Mighty freaked out." Daryl admitted, he walked over to the corpse of the once sweet girl who used to live next door, he put his foot on her head as weight and pulled his arrow clean out of her skull. At this angle he could further see her injuries. Daryl knew enough about hunting to know she couldn't be up and walking with those sorts of cuts, hell, she wouldn't even be alive.

"Daryl..." Glenn began in a wobbly voice, getting shakily to his feet and gesturing to the girl, "what the fuck is that?"

Updates soon x


	2. Sorry for the flowers

When I tell you I hate you

Disclaimer: I do not own the Walking Dead or any of the characters, they belong to their respective owners.

 

Chapter two: Sorry for the flowers

Daryl and Glenn stood there for what must have been ten minutes at the very least, just staring at the broken and bloodied body of their former neighbour.

Neither of them knew what the hell had just happened, or how they were supposed to explain it, they just stood there, staring, in total shock.

Once the shock wore off slightly, however, Glenn couldn't keep his mouth shut, but he wasn't shooting out accurate theories or explanations, he was just shouting out whatever came to mind because he couldn't concentrate on just one thing. Currently he was recounting the exact events of what had just happened to Daryl, despite the fact that Daryl had been there the whole time.

Daryl, however, didn't say a word. He crouched down in front of Jenny's corpse and, careful not to touch her so using the bolt from his crossbow, examined her wounds more closely. Daryl was no doctor, but he knew enough about weapons from what his old man had taught him to know what weapons did what, she didn't look like she'd been attacked by anything, well...except...

"She's got a bite mark." Daryl finally said.

"What?" Asked Glenn, stopping his rambling.

"Right here," Daryl continued, pointing to her neck, "she's got a huge bite mark, like nothin' I've ever seen before."

Glenn crouched down beside his boyfriend and peered over the body, he glanced at her neck and did indeed see a very heavy duty looking bite. Like something had gouged the skin from her body.

Glenn felt faintly nauseous just looking at it. "Maybe it was an animal attack?" He offered weakly, turning away and standing back up again.

Daryl shook his head even though Glenn wasn't looking in his direction. "This ain't no animal attack," Daryl began, he turned his head to look at Glenn, their eyes met, "this might sound crazy..." Daryl continued, "but there is no way she could be alive with wounds like these."

Glenn stared at Daryl for a very long moment, trying desperately in his terrified state to process what Daryl was trying to tell him.

"...What?" He asked, suddenly sounding a lot more tired than he had five minutes ago.

"This wasn't her, Glenn." Daryl told him, looking back at Jenny, she seemed more Human in death somehow. "There was something in her...that was crazy. I can't think of any other way to put it."

"Maybe she was just really spooked at whatever did this to her." Glenn offered, trying to figure out if that was logical, "did you see what did it to her?" Glenn asked suddenly, like the thought had just occurred to him.

Daryl finally stood up and walked away from the body, placing his crossbow down on the coffee table next to the forgotten roses.

"Nah," said Daryl finally, sounding faintly annoyed with himself. "More than likely a man, though," he told Glenn, thinking back to the destruction that was still sat next door, "the door was busted in from the inside, the place was trashed."

Glenn suddenly met Daryl's gaze again, fear fresh in his eyes.

"Kid...?" Asked Daryl slowly, Glenn didn't avert his gaze though, and Daryl could practically see the cogs in Glenn's sharp mind moving around.

"What if he's still there?" Asked Glenn quietly, reaching out and holding Daryl's forearm. "What if he comes for us next?"

A sudden fear for Glenn's safety sparked up deep in Daryl's stomach, he turned on his heel immediately and grabbed his crossbow from the coffee table, slinging it over his back.

He was half way to the door until he felt a warm hand on his arm yanking him back, he was again faced with Glenn and that fear in his eyes, and it tore through Daryl in ways he couldn't describe.

"What are you doing?" Asked Glenn, sounding surprised.

Daryl gestured to the door, "I'm checking out the apartment," he told him, "making sure there's no one else in there."

"But you can't!" Said Glenn immediately, "what if you get hurt?"

"I doubt they'll get that far." Daryl admitted, in all truth, honesty.

Glenn looked down for a moment as he realised this, too. If there was one thing Daryl could do it was protect himself, Glenn realised that from the moment he met him, but he'd be damned if he let Daryl go in there alone, not after he barely came out last time.

"Okay," he finally decided, "but I'm coming with you."

Daryl looked immediately weary, clearly unwilling to compromise the kid's safety, but he'd never taken anyone's choice away from them so far and he wasn't planning on starting now.

"You sure?" He asked.

"Yeah." Glenn told him, sounding more confident now.

Daryl looked Glenn over once again, wondering if he should say anything. "Al right." He finally decided.

…

They both walked slowly and quietly to Jenny's door, Daryl held his crossbow out in front of them, Glenn's eyes widened at the busted up door and Daryl stopped him before he walked inside.

"Okay, if we're gonna do this, I at least want you to stay behind me." He admitted to Glenn.

Glenn gave him a funny look. "Why?" He asked out of pure confusion.

"'Cause I'd feel a hell of a lot better that way." Said Daryl simply, Glenn rolled his eyes slightly but stayed behind Daryl as they walked carefully and silently into the apartment.

Glenn looked around immediately at the bomb site of a living room he was greeted with, if the furniture wasn't upended it was broken, the windows were shards of glass and nearly every surface was smeared with blood, something Daryl hadn't noticed the first time.

"Jesus." Glenn said quietly, he couldn't help it, it was just an instinct reaction, really.

"Did she do that?" Glenn asked quietly to Daryl's back.

Daryl shrugged slightly at him, "no idea," he admitted, "she was in another room when I came in, jumped out at me."

Glenn slid his arms around Daryl's waist and leaned against his back. "I'm so glad you got away." He breathed in relief against Daryl's back, and Daryl suddenly realised the hold around his waist was protective.

Daryl rolled his eyes slightly but smiled a little anyway, grateful Glenn couldn't see him.

"I ain't going anywhere, kid," Daryl reassured him, "I promise you tha..."

Daryl then cut off his sentence and went immediately rigid, he listened out like a deer hearing a predator in the woods.

Glenn felt the muscles in Daryl's back tense up, he took his head from Daryl's back and angled himself to look worried up at him. "What is it?" He asked softly.

"Can't you hear that?" Daryl asked Glenn softly, Glenn strained his ears for half a moment but couldn't detect any sound.

"Daryl, I can't hear anything."

Daryl moved forward slightly, "no, there is definitely something." And Daryl could hear something, like a low sobbing, a quiet low sobbing like someone was trying to muffle their tears.

Daryl looked around and suspected from the layout of his own apartment with Glenn that the noise was coming from the bathroom.

"You 'no, sometimes I honestly think you make all this hunting stuff up..."

"Shhh." Daryl shushed Glenn, "there's someone crying," he explained, walking towards the bathroom, "a man by the sound of it."

Daryl cautiously pushed the bathroom door open and nearly jumped back from what he saw. There was a man in there with sandy blonde hair around Glenn's age. The man was crying and clutching a blood stained towel to his left forearm, the entire bathroom was streaked with blood.

The man looked up immediately as they walked in, fear within his eyes.

"Oh my God." Daryl heard Glenn mutter behind him.

"What the hell happened in here?" Daryl asked, addressing the man. He looked up and Glenn and Daryl with large, fearful wet eyes but no sound came out of his mouth, just more racking sobs.

Glenn walked into the bathroom and tried to get the man to his feet without a word while Daryl just looked. Taking the hint, Daryl walked forward and gave his boyfriend a helping hand.

Together they both half-walked, half-carried the man back to their apartment.

…

Daryl took the towel off of the man's forearm and saw an aggressive, bleeding bite wound where the flesh had literally been ripped out. It was exactly like the bite mark Jenny had.

"Did Jenny do that?" Asked Daryl in shock, staring at the wound, vaguely wondering how this guy hadn't passed out from the amount of blood loss.

The man, who had calmed down sufficiently, nodded at him.

"Tell me what happened." Daryl commanded, just as Glenn walked into the room with a bowl of warm water and their first aid kit.

Glenn took one look at the man's wound and felt sick again, "what the hell did that to you?" He exclaimed without thinking.

"Jenny did." Daryl told him.

"Jenny?" Asked Glenn, turning visibly pale.

"You both know her name?" Asked the man, Daryl turned back to him.

"We're her neighbours," Daryl explained, before mentally correcting himself, "we were her neighbours, I was just dropping off a letter...I found the apartment the way it was."

The man nodded slowly.

"Listen, I know it must be hard," Daryl began, "but you need to tell me what happened."

The man took one look at them and looked as if he was going to break down again, Glenn crouched down beside him and opened the first aid kit, he cleaned out the bite with warm water, ridding it of any chance of infection.

"What's your name?" Asked Glenn softly.

"Ryan." He responded quietly, looking as Glenn began to wrap a bandage around his wound.

"Ryan, you need to tell us what happened in there." Glenn continued.

Ryan looked at them both and gulped heavily. "Jenny and I were supposed to be going on a date tonight," he explained, "I was waiting for her to get back, and when she did she told me she'd had an accident on the way home from work, I tried to talk to her about it but she just ran into the bathroom."

Ryan ran his good hand through his hair, a few tears escaping. "I thought she just needed a few minutes to...compose herself, you 'no...? But then I heard her fall so I ran in there and she...she..."

Ryan stopped, looking haunted at whatever memories were in his mind.

"She what?" Daryl pressed, trying to be gentle, but it wasn't exactly in his nature.

"She was just lying there," Ryan finally continued, "there was blood everywhere and she had this huge bite mark on neck...I got to her, tried to give her mouth to mouth but she wasn't waking up...but then she did, she was moving and I thought she was okay, but..." he swallowed again, "but when she opened her eyes they were kinda...glazed over, then she grabbed my arm and took a chunk out of it! I kinda kicked her out of the bathroom after that, I tried to stem the bleeding on my arm and I could just hear her, growling and crashing around the place..."

"That must have been where she got the rest of her cuts," Daryl cut in, "explains why there was blood everywhere."

"...It all seemed to die down a little," Ryan began, "and then I heard your voice calling for Jenny," he gestured to Daryl, "I wanted to warn you but couldn't think how. I'm sorry, man."

"Don't worry about it," Daryl assured him, brushing it off. He was more concerned about sorting all this new information into something that made sense. "I'm good."

"Jenny bit you?" Asked Glenn again incredulously, he was completely unable the process it in his mind, it made no sense.

"Yeah," Ryan nodded, "she did."

"What the hell?" Asked Glenn, turning to Daryl.

Daryl looked confusedly up at him. "I dunno. A disease, maybe?"

"Where is she now?" Ryan asked suddenly, distracting Glenn and Daryl from their thought processes.

"I had to put her down," said Daryl softly, "I moved the body it was...starting to smell."

Ryan ran his hand through his hair again. "Jesus."

Glenn bit his lip slightly, thinking of anything he could say to change the subject. "Your...err...your...cut...should be okay now."

"Thank you." Said Ryan quietly, looking down at the bandage.

Daryl stood up suddenly, startling Glenn. "I'm gonna call an ambulance." He informed them, "just to be safe."

"Okay," Glenn replied, smiling slightly.

…

A few minutes later, Daryl walked back into the room and Glenn looked up at him from the sofa.

"Hey, the ambulance on it's way?" He asked.

"Damn phone lines are down." Daryl told him, sounding annoyed.

Glenn's forehead creased. "What? Why?"

"Dunno." Daryl replied, looking around the room, "where's Ryan?" He asked.

"Bedroom," Glenn told him, "he needed a minute you 'no, to process things."

Daryl nodded and then looked at Glenn. He walked over to him and sat next to him, Glenn stared at him as Daryl put a hand over Glenn's cheek and stared at him with worried eyes. "What about you?" Daryl asked, "how are you doing?"

Glenn put his own hand on top of Daryl's, stroking lazy lines down it. "I'm worried," he admitted honestly, "I'm freaked out...but I'm okay." He assured Daryl, "what about you?"

Daryl refrained from snorting. "Growin' up with Merle and my old man didn't leave much to the imagination about killing things, I was taught to pick up a gun before I was taught to pick up a pen."

Glenn laughed slightly. "And yet your weapon of choice is a crossbow?"

Daryl glanced over to the aforementioned weapon, back in it's previous spot on the coffee table.

"It's silent," he explained to Glenn, "it's efficient...it's more fun than a gun."

Glenn laughed a little and began to place soft, butterfly kisses over Daryl's hand that was still stroking his cheek. Glenn closed his eyes and rested into Daryl's hand, emotionally exhausted.

"Daryl, what the hell is going on?"

"I don't know," Daryl admitted honestly, "but I will find a way to get us through this."

Glenn opened his eyes then and stared at Daryl. "I love you, Daryl." He told his boyfriend.

"I love you, too." Daryl replied.

The pair then leant forward and closed their eyes, resting their foreheads against each other, trying to draw strength from each other. All the while, Daryl couldn't help the worry build in his stomach.

The pair broke apart immediately when they both heard a loud noise from the bedroom, Glenn looked worriedly at Daryl and Daryl stood up quietly, deciding not to make the mistake of calling out again.

Daryl slowly opened the bedroom door and Ryan looked at him. He had that same glazed over look as Jenny, and he was snarling.

"Holy fuck." Said Daryl quietly.

"What?" Asked Glenn from the living room, worry clear in his voice.

But before Daryl could say anything else, Ryan was charging at him impossibly fast. Daryl ducked out of the way and grabbed Glenn, shoving them both out of the door of the apartment. It all happened so fast that Daryl didn't have time to pick up his crossbow.

Glenn didn't say a word, he grabbed Daryl's hand and the pair bolted down the hallway of the apartment building as Ryan snarled and ran after them.

Daryl stopped them at the elevator and pressed every button frantically but nothing happened, no light came on. The elevator was down.

Shit, shit, shit, thought Daryl frantically.

"Daryl!" Glenn practically screamed, Daryl turned to see Ryan bearing down on them. Daryl instinctively shoved Glenn to the floor and leant over him, again using his own body for a shield and waiting for whatever was going to come...but suddenly, all the pair heard was a loud gunshot, Daryl looked up immediately to see a man in a cop uniform with black hair, pointing a rifle in front of him.

Ryan then hit the floor lifelessly with a bullet in his head.

Daryl helped Glenn up as the man crossed to them. "Were you bit or scratched?" He asked immediately.

"No, but he was." Daryl said, gesturing to Ryan.

The Cop looked them over for a moment, "Shane." He told them, offering his hand.

"Daryl." Daryl returned, taking the hand.

"Glenn," Glenn added, still breathing heavily, "do you know what the hell's going on?"

"No one does," Shane told them, "but it's like the plague or something. Ordinary people, when they get bit, they turn into that and try eating folk."

"Eating people!" Glenn exclaimed, and Shane nodded.

"How many have been in this building?"

"Two, as far as I know." Daryl told him, "I took out the other one, crossbow bolt to the head," he explained.

"Nice work," Shane complimented, "hitting them in the head seems to work, the one you put down..." Shane addressed Daryl, "that the one that bit this guy?"

"Yeah, she was."

"And what about the one that bit her?" Questioned Shane.

"According to Ryan..." Daryl began, pointing to the thing on the floor, "she got bit on the street, not here."

Shane nodded to himself before he looked back up and Daryl and Glenn. "You two got a plan?" He asked.

"We only just saw these things five minutes ago!" Glenn pointed out.

"Well, listen-" began Shane, "me and a couple others are gonna get out of Atlanta, if you want, you can tag along."

Daryl and Glenn shared an understanding look, almost like they were communicating telepathically, before Glenn turned back to Shane and nodded.

"Al right, pack some clothes but travel light, and get any guns or weapons you have and meet me outside the building, that pick up outside yours?" Shane asked.

"Yeah," said Daryl.

"Good, you can follow us in that." Shane turned to walk away but Daryl shouted after him.

"Hey man, thanks, for saving our lives." Said Daryl sincerely.

"My job, man." Shane told him.

"What were you even doing in the building in the first place?" Glenn asked.

"Scavenging for any supplies we can find," Shane explained, "I'm surprised you two have been in the dark about this for so long."

…

A few minutes later and Daryl and Glenn were back in their apartment shoving clothes into bags, after a moment or so, Glenn stopped.

"Glenn?" Asked Daryl.

Glenn turned to him, "Daryl, I'm scared. What the hell are we doing?"

Daryl walked immediately to Glenn and drew him into a hug, holding on tight, "I'm here," Daryl promised him, "everything's gonna be fine, don't forget, I'm always gonna be here to look after you."

Glenn pulled away and then nodded at him tearfully, he turned away and continued packing and Daryl suddenly felt an odd surge of pride go through him.

Daryl made fast work of grabbing two old hunting rifles and Glenn grabbed his baseball bat, just as soon as they were about to walk out of the door, Glenn sent a longing look back to their home, all the way back to their old life before he walked out and left it all behind them.

Daryl was just behind him when he spotted his crossbow lying on the coffee table, he walked to it and picked it up, slinging it over his back. He was just about to turn away until he also spotted the roses lying there too, and Daryl actually found himself looking sadly at them.

He knew there must have been a reason he didn't buy anyone flowers.

"Hey, Daryl, you coming?" Daryl heard Glenn call, and Glenn turned away and followed him out.

The street was now completely deserted and the pair looked over it with worry, only hours ago had it been completely normal.

Shane came over to them when they came out of the building and immediately took them over to a brunette woman and a young boy sat on the hood of what must have been Shane's car.

"This is Lori, and Carl." Shane introduced, "Lori, Carl...this is Daryl and Glenn."

Daryl and Glenn said quick hi's.

"How are you doing?" Asked Lori sympathetically.

"Well," began Daryl, "we just survived two of those things."

Glenn rested weakly into Daryl's side and Daryl kissed him lightly and reassuringly on the temple.

"Are you gay?" Carl suddenly asked bluntly.

"Carl!" Lori scolded, turning red.

"What?" Began Carl defensively, "I was just asking!"

Daryl smiled slightly despite everything that had happened. "No, we're brothers." He told Carl sarcastically.

"Oh, bad Korean joke." Said Glenn, hitting Daryl on the arm.

Shane chuckled slightly. "We should get moving." He told them.

And with that, Lori, Shane and Carl got into their car and started the engine, Daryl and Glenn chucked all of their stuff into the pick up and followed suit.

When Daryl put his hand on the gear stick, Glenn placed his own over it and squeezed tightly.

Daryl knew exactly what Glenn was looking for; comfort and a way to ground himself.

"Sorry for the flowers." Daryl found himself saying softly.

"What?" Asked Glenn, looking confused.

"It's always been my rule not to buy people flowers," Daryl explained, "and I think this might be why."

Glenn smiled sadly at Daryl and the pair then both looked forward to the road as they followed Shane out of the city.


	3. Apocalypse

When I tell you I hate you

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters, they belong to their respective owners.

Warnings: This chapter contains some upsetting/gory scenes. But you can't really expect much better from a zombie apocalypse.

Chapter 3: Apocalypse

It had been a year since the start of the apocalypse, since the whole world had gone to hell and all of the people in it, too.

Except they weren't people. That's what Daryl and Glenn had come to discover quite quickly, they were monsters, they were dead, they were Walkers.

Once Glenn and Daryl had gotten out of Atlanta with Shane, Lori and Carl, they began to find others. Other people that were still living and didn't have flesh between their teeth, they'd all pretty much banded together, it was the only way to stay alive.

No one could explain these...things. The answers Shane had given Glenn and Daryl could only go so far. No one knew how it had started, what the hell had even started. After about six months the authorities had gone down. People were left dotted around the world on their own. All they knew was that they had to survive.

At first, they'd tried to contact everyone they cared about, Daryl managed to get hold of his brother, Merle, and convinced him to come with them after some persuasion.

Glenn didn't have that same luck when they went to find his parents, they found them all right...

The way Glenn had clung to Daryl desperately and sobbed in anguish and despair had haunted Daryl's nightmares for a long time.

But that wasn't the only thing that had come to haunt their nightmares. The world they all lived in was one steeped in fear. A world where you knew you could be alive one second and gone the next. You could be the one ripping the flesh right off of your husband, Mother, child.

The way Daryl and Glenn lived now was like they were soldiers, scavenging food and ready to kill at a moments notice. They were battle hardened now, they were changed and they could never change back.

But that didn't stop their love, it didn't drive a wedge between them. That connection they had was the very thing that kept them fighting.

They knew that they each had a responsibility to keep the other safe, and being killed would just be too damn selfish.

They'd had a camp near the city for a while, and that had made supply runs that much easier. But it was also dangerous, Walkers were only 10 minutes away. It wasn't long before it just became too dangerous, when they'd realised that the camp had children that could wander off and never come back.

That's when they had decided, Shane, Daryl and Dale, a kindly old man with a RV who had joined their group a few months back, that they needed to get out of there. They needed to find somewhere safe.

Daryl needed to find somewhere he could keep Glenn safe.

As soon as they'd become the Motley assortment that kept each other alive today, Shane had been the one in charge, and he'd quickly taken Daryl as his right hand man.

Dale provided a sort of moral compass for them all. They became a kind of make shift chain of command that the rest of the group seemed to respect. So when they had announced they were going to find new shelter in the woods, by the mountains, it had been generally well received.

They'd moved the whole camp in only two days, it made sense to move quickly. Everyone seemed to settle into the new place fairly quickly and most of them looked on it as the most practical decision they'd made in a while.

They were never bothered by Walkers, they were all too busy with the left over meat in the city to travel up this far, being in the woods made hunting for food easier for Merle and Daryl, they made their own little life up here. It was terrifying and at times completely undignified but they were alive.

But the one thing that came with leaving the outskirts of the city was that supply runs became that much harder, harder to escape if Walkers struck and come home.

Glenn always went out on supply runs. He was nifty and quick and had the abilities to survive.

And it scared Daryl, it really did.

Daryl had been planning on going too, to keep his lover safe, but Dale had informed him that since Merle was going on the supply run, they needed Daryl to stay behind and hunt, find whatever food he could because they were running dangerously low.

This made Daryl angry at first, and he asked Merle if he could stay and hunt but Merle was being the jackass he always was and refused.

After a while, though, Daryl calmed down and accepted it was just something that needed to be done. Glenn needed to go, and he needed to stay.

"I'll come back." Glenn informed him before he and the others were due to set off. "I promise you." Daryl lent his forehead against Glenn's and the pair met in a soft kiss.

"Be careful in the woods." Glenn breathed against Daryl's skin, his concern obvious in his voice.

"Always am." Daryl promised, trying to smile, to reassure Glenn at the very least.

When Daryl had said goodbye to Merle, he very quietly said into Merle's ear, "keep him safe you son of a bitch."

And deep down, Daryl was sure Merle knew there would be hell to pay if he didn't.

As Daryl watched them all speed away in the cars they'd managed to scavenge, he felt what was close to a tight knot in his stomach.

Daryl Dixon didn't worry like a girl, but this, he couldn't help that sickening feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach, like he knew something bad was gonna happen.

He shook the thought off very quickly, Daryl was no fortune teller and there was no point in worrying himself up like that. He had a job to do, he had to get out in the woods and hunt for the group.

But he didn't move for a few moments, just staring at the road. His mind was drawn back to the time before Walkers. When he and Glenn had shared an apartment and had jobs and Daryl knew that everyday he could come home and snuggle up to Glenn in their bed and they would both be safe. Those times were so long ago now that it was almost like they had never existed, but Daryl held onto them. He had to hold onto something.

…

Daryl slung his crossbow over his back and tied up a length of rope and was about to make his way into the thick of the woods when he heard the crunch in the leaves. Footsteps of someone approaching him. Daryl looked up to see Carol, a woman he never really spoke to, but he was aware that she had a cute kid and a dick for a husband.

He straightened up as she stopped in front of him, ready to hear what it was she had to say. Daryl wasn't exactly the most social of people and he hadn't made a shit load of friends or emotional ties like Glenn had. But he wasn't that much of an ass to just walk away when someone wanted to say something to him.

"Hello Daryl." Carol started, eyes darting about a bit.

"Hello." Daryl answered, not sure where she was going with this. If it was just a casual "Hi" like they usually shared, she wouldn't be standing directly in front of him.

Daryl was expecting some sort of message from Dale or Shane, so he really wasn't ready for what did come out of the woman's mouth.

"I can tell you're worried about Glenn." She began, causing Daryl to stare at her, but she soldiered on anyway. "I can see it in your eyes," she continued, more confident now, "he's gonna be okay, you 'no."

Daryl tried not to roll his eyes at her. Obviously she was trying to Mother him, that was almost Carol's role in the group. She saw people who were hurting or sad and she tried to make it better. Daryl supposed he should have admired her for keeping everyone level but to be honest he'd never really understood people who were that kind to strangers.

Carol carried on speaking as soon as she realised Daryl wasn't going to answer, in all truth, Daryl had no idea what to say.

"It's okay to be scared," Carol reminded him, "it's what makes us Human. It's what separates us from those Walkers."

That struck Daryl slightly, she'd seen right through him, seen how he'd tried to shut out his emotions in front of everyone except Glenn, how he didn't want them to think he was scared.

But a part of him knew she was right. Being Human was the thing that set them apart from those drooling freaks that would rip them apart without a thought.

He looked at Carol again and felt a weight on his shoulders, almost like he suddenly realised he needed someone to talk to about his fears.

Part of him wanted to thank her quickly and walk away into the forest and shut himself away again, but another part of him was already talking without his permission, and he couldn't stop it.

"The first thing I ever noticed about Glenn," Daryl found himself telling her, "was that he was tired. He did hard work and for some reason I wanted to protect him from it all, you 'no?" He looked to the ground, embarrassed slightly. "Now, I can't protect him. I can't protect him from these things even when I'm with him, and now I'm not even there. It just..." He breathed heavily and revealed the one thing he had never revealed to anyone, not even Glenn. "It makes me feel powerless." He said, looking up at her, but she wasn't looking at him nervously or strangely like he expected.

"You don't have to feel powerless." Was all she said, "all you need to do to protect Glenn is to be here when he gets back."

…

"Hey, helicopter boy, come say hello." Daryl watched with no real interest as some guy he had never seen before walked across to them from the truck everyone had come back in, he'd come back from his hunting trip expecting Glenn back, not some new guy in his place.

"Oh my God." The man exclaimed quietly.

"DAD!" The kid, Carl, screamed out and ran to the guy, the new guy picked him up in his arms and made a beeline for Lori and immediately Daryl knew.

This was Rick, the husband Lori lost, the one she told him and Glenn about when they first met.

Daryl actually felt something close to emotion for them in his stomach for a moment as he watched them, but he had something far more overpowering in his mind.

"Not that this isn't cute as hell," he began sarcastically, "but..."

Daryl's sentence got cut off as a roar of an engine seared through the air, accompanied by a noise that Daryl could only describe as a car alarm.

Everyone in the group turned to the source of the noise as the rumbling got closer, and a subconscious smile spread out across Daryl's face as he saw Glenn approaching in a bright red sports car, the large grin of a child in a sweet shop plastered all over his face.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Shane shouted angrily, running to the car as Glenn got out of it.

"You'll attract every Walker around here!" He had to shout, whether he was that angry or not, to be heard over the din of the car alarm. But for once, none of that mattered to Daryl. He seized Glenn in his arms and held him close, as close as he possibly could.

Glenn melted into the warm, familiar arms of his boyfriend and suddenly, the fear of the disastrous supply trip, the exhilarating car journey and even Shane, all of those thoughts went out of his mind; he was safe again.

"I thought I lost you," Daryl whispered in his ear, sounding desperate, "in the back of my mind, when they all came back and you didn't..."

"That's not exactly true." Came a voice suddenly, causing Glenn and Daryl to break apart. Daryl and Glenn looked over to see T-Dog, a guy Daryl never really spoke to but Glenn did. He was looking directly at Daryl, with a hardened look on his face, But Daryl could see the look his eyes, that look of fear beneath the carefully cultivated expression of toughness. He knew it well because he used to see it every time he looked in the mirror when he'd lived with his old man.

Daryl wondered what T-Dog could have to tell him that was so disastrously bad, but then he looked around at everyone staring at him it occurred to him.

"Where's Merle?"

Everyone who'd gone on the supply run was scarily quiet, including Glenn. Daryl looked down to his boyfriend but Glenn wasn't looking back up at him, he couldn't.

After more of this eerie silence, the new guy, Rick, stepped forward.

"This is my fault." He told Daryl directly, "Merle was a threat to us all so...I handcuffed him to a roof, and we left him there."

Daryl couldn't process any kind of thought for a few very long moments, They'd...they'd done what?

"You..." began Daryl quietly, "YOU LEFT MY BROTHER CHAINED TO A ROOF?!"

"Daryl..." began Glenn, trying to put his hands on Daryl's face, but Daryl subconsciously batted him away.

"YOU LEFT HIM THERE?! IN A CITY CRAWLING WITH WALKERS?!"

Daryl could fell the rage deep within his stomach, threatening to consume him.

"Daryl...Daryl! Baby...look at me...look at me!" Said Glenn forcefully, finally getting Daryl's attention, he put both of his hands on Daryl's cheeks and forced him to make eye contact with him. Glenn chose his words carefully.

"Daryl, Merle was attracting the Walkers. If Rick didn't do what he did, we would have died. I would have died."

The anger trickled out of Daryl as he looked into Glenn's eyes, listened to his words. Daryl could believe him easily, of course Merle would cause shit. Of course he would. And when Daryl had specifically asked for Merle to keep Glenn safe, of course he would do all he could to put him in danger.

"Daryl I am so sorry," Glenn continued, genuine shame and pain clear in his eyes for causing Daryl so much pain, "I am so sorry..." It was only a half whisper now.

Daryl sighed heavily and closed his eyes, and rested his forehead against Glenn's. Silently telling Glenn he had nothing to be sorry about, and he knew that Glenn understood.

"This is my fault." Said T-Dog, when they'd broken apart for the second time, Daryl was substantially calmer now. "I was gonna unlock the handcuffs," T-Dog explained, "but I dropped the damn key."

"You couldn't have picked it up?" Asked Daryl, trying to remain calm.

"I dropped it in a drain." He told Daryl, sounding deeply ashamed.

"The thing is though," T-Dog continued, "I stopped long enough to chain the door. No Walkers could have gotten in, not with that padlock."

"What's your point?" Asked Shane, brow furrowed.

"I mean," T-Dog continued, "Merle is still alive."

…

"Glenn, you don't have to come, it's not safe." Daryl tried to tell Glenn for the umpteenth time, but, as usually, Glenn rolled his eyes at him.

"Will you stop saying that already?" Asked Glenn, a small smile on his lips. Then his expression turned serious. "I will be fine. I've got you to protect me this time."

"I am so sorry that Merle put you in danger." Said Daryl, face growing hot with embarrassment. "I swear, as soon as we get him back. I'm gonna kick his ass."

That caused Glenn's smile to return. "Now that, I would like to see."

"I think we better get moving." Rick called from the truck. "The quicker we get to Merle the safer he'll be."

Glenn and Daryl moved towards the truck, trying to ignore the stare Shane was sending their way.

Once Daryl had decided that he was going back for Merle, and T-Dog, Rick and Glenn had decided to go with him, Shane had been less up for it than the rest of them.

"You're taking away four bodies that could protect this camp." He'd said.

But Rick hadn't listened to him. Daryl didn't particularly care whether Rick or T-Dog came with him, because they were the two idiots that got his brother in that situation in the first place.

The only thing Daryl had an issue with was Glenn.

Rick had insisted they needed someone with Glenn's cunning and know how to help them get to Merle, and also to retrieve some bag of guns Rick had left behind, but Daryl hadn't really paid that much attention to that.

All Daryl knew was that Glenn was going to be in danger again, no matter how cunning he was.

They drove back to Atlanta in silence, Glenn resting his head on Daryl's shoulder the whole time while Daryl loaded his crossbow.

The pressure of Glenn against Daryl was keeping him calmer than he would have been if Glenn wasn't there.

He was angry, of course he was, because they'd pretty much left his brother for dead, and he knew why. They saw Merle as a good for nothing red neck, granted most of the time he was a good for nothing red neck, but most of them thought that about Daryl too. He knew the looks he and Merle would get at camp. Admittedly, Merle more than him, as Daryl was a fraction more sociable and had the advantage of being in Shane's and Lori's good graces. But many of the others treated Merle like crap, which apparently meant he deserved to be chained up as Walker bait, and Daryl hated them for it.

But another part of Daryl didn't even know why he was going back for Merle. He'd put everyone in danger, which was something Daryl would never do even on his worst day, but most of all he'd put Glenn in danger.

Even if there was no Human decency in his brother at all, the very fact that Glenn meant so much to Daryl must have meant something to Merle. At least that's how it all worked in Daryl's brain.

He had so many thoughts fighting with each other he soon came to realise he didn't really know what he was doing, but he had to do something. He needed a task to be focused on, and they were driving straight into it.

Atlanta was quiet, eerily quiet. The Walkers must have moved to another part of the city.

"Well, isn't that a good thing?" Asked Glenn, once Daryl had voice that. "They're moving out of the city."

"Or it could mean they're running out of food in the city." Countered Daryl, trying not to sound as morbid as he felt. "Means they'll go looking for it somewhere else."

It didn't take them long to find the shopping centre they'd left Merle on, especially without all of the Walkers in the way. They used the tank Glenn told Daryl he'd found Rick in as a check point, and sure enough, on the floor next to the tank, was a black bag with the end of Rifles protruding from it. T-Dog picked it up, it was heavy.

"This what you were talking about?" He asked, getting Rick's attention.

As soon as Rick saw the bag he began to nod, he took the bag from T-Dog and checked through it, once he was satisfied all of the guns were still there, he looked up to T-Dog, but found him staring in one direction with a disgusted look on his face.

Rick, Daryl and Glenn followed his gaze to the carcass opposite, stripped of meat.

"What the hell?" Asked T-Dog.

"It was a horse." Rick supplied, feeling bile in the pit of his stomach but fighting to keep it down.

He rifled through the bag and passed each of them a gun and some ammunition.

"Arm yourselves." Rick instructed them, "there could be Walkers anywhere."

"It's mighty weird." Said Daryl, taking a few steps and looking around, "this place was crawling with Walkers, where the hell did they all go?"

"Maybe you were right," began Rick in all seriousness, "maybe they did run out of food."

Daryl tried to keep the thought out of his mind as Rick shouldered the bag and they all made their way into the shopping centre. But when Daryl felt Glenn's arm clutching around his waist, he knew Glenn was scared.

Everyone stood back slightly as T-Dog cut the thick chain on the door to the roof with the bolt cutters they'd borrowed from Dale. Daryl examined the chain and looked at T-Dog, and then to the floor.

"Thanks, man." He mumbled. But even though it wasn't much of a thank you, he damn well meant it.

They walked out onto the roof and everyone stopped, and stared.

"Oh my..." began Glenn, his hand flying to his mouth. You could have cut the tension between them with a knife, Rick and T-Dog exchanged a look.

Daryl shouted out.

"No! No!" He kept repeating, because he didn't know what else he was supposed to do, he ran around the roof just shouting and no one stopped him. He didn't cry, he didn't run to Glenn for comfort, he just shouted.

As the bloodied hacksaw, the empty cuffs and Merle Dixon's severed hand lay on the floor beneath them.

…

They'd followed the trail of Merle's blood through the building, discovering he'd taken out two Walkers one handed and even had the sense to cauterise the wound, but there was no sign of Merle, no matter where they looked. He could've been anywhere, he could have been dead.

Glenn watched Daryl as they walked back to the truck, unsure of what to say. Daryl wasn't angry, he was distraught. He just walked in silence and hung his head dejectedly.

He hadn't taken it out on anyone. He'd just...been silent.

The trip back to the truck had been made only the more unnerving in it's silence by the silence caused by the lack of Walkers, there were no Walkers anywhere.

That was the scariest thing.

"What the..." said T-Dog in pure confusion when they arrived to the place where they'd parked, but found it empty. "Where's the truck?"

"Who could have taken it?" Asked Glenn disbelievingly.

"Merle." Said Rick, like it was the most obviously thing in the world.

Daryl sighed under his breath so none of the others would hear him. "Son of a bitch."

…

It was a long walk back to camp, and when they made it three quarters of the way there it had already turned dark. They'd encountered three Walkers on the way, Daryl had taken all three of them out with his crossbow, they didn't want to fire a shot so close to camp.

They still didn't really say anything to each other, but Daryl's mood had obviously lifted, and the invisible wedge it had driven between him and Glenn had disappeared, they walked side by side, hands touching every once in a while.

Rick suddenly stopped close to the camp, he looked like a deer caught in the head lights. "Did you hear that?" He asked.

"Hear what?" Asked Glenn, looking around, and then they heard it.

Screams, lots of them, piercing the night sky. Horrible, blood-curdling screams of people dying, and it could only be coming from one place.

Without saying a word to each other, all four men bolted to the direction of the camp, and the sight that met them was horrifying.

It was suddenly clear where some of the Walkers from Atlanta had gone.

The camp was completely overrun, there were Walkers everywhere, tearing the flesh out of people, destroying their tents and everything they had built.

They could all see Shane desperately defending whatever he could by himself while many people cowered behind him.

Without giving it a second thought, all four men charged in and lifted the guns Rick had supplied them with, shooting Walkers dead centre in the brain, the year of practice they'd had ensured they never missed.

Daryl took out four Walkers with the butt of his gun alone, making sure that, even though he was taking out Walkers himself, Glenn was behind him the whole time, while Rick battled his way over to Shane, Lori and Carl, and T-Dog fought to get Carol and Sophia out of the corner the Walkers had trapped them in.

A few minutes before dawn settled in, bodies of Walkers lay on the floor and a dead silence hung over the camp. The smell of death and looks of horror filled the camp. It was hard at this point to distinguish how many of their people were dead. Shane, Rick, T-dog, Daryl, Glenn and Dale had been working on pure fear alone.

And now there was silence. Now the adrenalin had gone.

Now the agony would set in.

…

By the morning they knew that Amy, Andrea's little sister, was dead, Andrea hadn't moved from her side all night, and so was Ed, Carol's dick of a husband. As they'd been taking out all of the Walkers they hadn't successfully gotten in the brain the previous night, Carol had approached Daryl and taken his axe, asked if she could do it.

Daryl had watched, dumbfounded, as Carol had smashed in the brain of a Walker, tears streaming down her face, paying some form of loyalty to a man who had treated her worse than he would have treated a dog, Daryl realised that Carol had real strength.

No one exchanged words while they cleared away all of the bodies, they'd lit a fire for the Walkers, let them burn, Daryl thought.

Daryl picked up the body of someone he realised was part of their camp, or who had been part of their camp. Daryl didn't know his name but recognised his face. He felt a moment of pure sadness.

But to be fair to him, the corpse was so bloodied and mutilated that Daryl hadn't noticed it was one of them until he'd dragged it to the fire, but that had caused Glenn to immediately cross to him.

"Our people go over there!" He had half-shouted, obviously completely anguished and overwhelmed, "we don't burn them, we bury them!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Glenn..." Daryl chanted, taking Glenn into his arms, trying to calm him down.

Glenn sobbed quietly into Daryl's top for a few moments, letting all of his overwhelming emotions flow. From the great pain he felt at their loss to the complete relief he felt that Daryl hadn't been hurt.

And the absolute terror he felt for the burden he now had to bare.

Once he had calmed down, Daryl had let Glenn go and moved the body of the man to the pile of bodies they were going to bury.

Feeling better, Glenn bent down to pick up the body of a Walker and drag it to the fire. Jackie, a middle-aged, dark-skinned woman Glenn had spoken to a few times, bent down to help him.

He smiled gratefully at her, and she looked up to smile back, but got caught up staring at his stomach.

"Is that...blood?" She asked, sounding completely shocked.

Glenn looked down at his own stomach. "Oh, some from the bodies must have splashed on me.." he tried feebly.

"That's fresh!" Jackie said, "Glenn, were you bit?"

Glenn looked around quickly. "You can't tell anyone..." he said desperately, but it was too late.

"Glenn's been bit!" Jackie shouted desperately, getting everyone's attention.

Everyone stared at Glenn in shock.

"Show me your wound!" Shane shouted, pointing a gun directly at Glenn's head. "Show me your wound!"

Glenn felt the tears slide down his cheeks as he lifted his top to reveal the bite mark on his abdomen he'd discovered a few hours earlier.

He did the one thing he promised himself he wouldn't do. He looked at Daryl.

He nearly recoiled from the look of pure horror etched across Daryl's face, like he'd never seen anything more terrifying.

Daryl couldn't move, he just stood there. He stared at the dripping wound on Glenn's stomach...

even though the apocalypse had begun a year ago, the end of Daryl's world had started right there.


	4. Failure is not an option

When I tell you I hate you...

Disclaimer: I do not own Walking Dead or any of the characters, they belong to their respective owners.

Chapter 4: Failure is not an option

Everyone watched in complete shock and silence as the tears cascaded down Glenn's face and he slowly lowered himself to the ground. Daryl watched as Glenn sank to his knees and cried into his hands but he did not run to comfort his boyfriend, even though every instinct in his body was screaming for him to do so.

He stayed rooted to the spot, unaware of the eyes slowly drifting from Glenn onto him. There was something in his veins stopping him from moving, stopping him from listening to his instincts for the first time. For the first time in all of Daryl's life, he was thinking completely irrationally.

His mind wasn't thinking of all the things he could do to save Glenn, or at least how he could make Glenn more comfortable. In fact, Daryl was being more selfish than he'd ever been in his entire life.

All he could think about was what was he going to do when Glenn was gone?

Glenn was all Daryl had. Not just now, in the apocalypse, but in life generally.

Before Daryl had spotted Glenn in that bar for the first time, all he'd had was his good-for-nothing brother and a dead beat dad.

Glenn became his whole life, or at least made his life so much more liveable.

With Glenn, the end of the world hadn't been the end of the world.

But without Glenn, there would be no world, and with no world, there would be no reason to live...

A flash of metal in the beating sunlight caught Daryl's attention. Glenn's tears had turned to dry, racking sobs and Daryl turned to see Shane still held his gun aloft, still trained on Glenn. Like he was going to put him down like he was no more than a dog.

Suddenly, all of Daryl's guilt and fear channelled into rage, a fresh, pure kind of rage he'd never felt before.

He whipped around faster than lightening and, using the skills his father taught him, disarmed Shane before he could register anything and tossed his gun behind him.

Daryl was never one for firearms, instead he lashed out with his fist, striking Shane between the eyes, earning a few shocked gasps from the crowd gathered around his quivering boyfriend.

Daryl's punch, although powerful, did not fully knock Shane off of his feet. Shane instead retaliated almost immediately by knocking Daryl back. Although he was a trained cop, Daryl's rage leant him a strength and skill he wouldn't have possessed otherwise.

He locked his shoulders and drove into Shane, knocking him to the floor. He proceeded to lash his booted foot out, slamming kicks into any place he could connect a blow.

"You son of a bitch!" He shouted, as he felt Shane's hands grasp around his foot. "He hasn't turned yet!"

"Daryl! DARYL!" Rick was suddenly on him, wrapping his arms tightly around Daryl and dragging backwards, still kicking.

"Daryl, stop!" Rick was half-shouting into Daryl's ear.

"You ever point a gun at him again, I'll fucking kill you!" Daryl screamed at Shane, who had pulled himself up from the ground, covered in dirt, bruised and anger deep within his eyes.

"D..Daryl?" As soon as Daryl heard that voice, all the anger and rage seemed to drain immediately from his body, as he turned to see Glenn, on his feet, eyes puffy, reaching one hand out to touch him.

Daryl immediately broke free of Rick's grasp and pulled Glenn into his arms, holding him so tightly he must have been restricting Glenn's airflow, but Glenn didn't care, wrapping his arms just as firmly around Daryl and allowing himself to fall into Daryl's arms.

He prayed he could just stay there forever.

As Daryl hung onto the love of his life for dear life, he began to cry. Not racking sobs like Glenn, but silent tears tracking down his face, stinging every nerve.

Glenn would never know they were there.

"That son of a bitch." Shane said quietly as Rick walked over to him, "we need to keep him on a leash!"

"Calm down, Shane." Said Rick, also keeping his voice low. "You did just threaten to shoot Glenn. I would have punched you too."

Shane looked around the group, briefly locking eyes with Lori until he looked back to Rick, gesturing with a nod of his head for Rick to follow him to the other side of the camp.

…

"Shane..." began Rick as he and Shane reached the other side of the camp, out of earshot of anyone else. Rick could sense a few eyes following him as he walked away, but he made an effort to keep his eyes in front of him.

"Listen man..." began Shane, cutting Rick off, "I don't like this any more than you do. I don't. Glenn is a valuable asset to this group, and things are gonna get a lot tighter without him around, but..."

Shane's eyes momentarily fell to the floor before looking back up to his friend. "He's gonna turn Rick, I know it. He knows it, Daryl knows it..."

Rick sucked in a deep breath.

"Even you know it, Rick! We..."

"No I don't know." Said Rick evenly, looking directly at Shane. "And I don't believe it either."

"Rick," began Shane slowly, "there is no other way..."

"Look, I've told you before," Rick cut in, straining to keep his voice quiet. "The man I was with was going to the CDC, he heard there may a cure..."

"God damn it, Rick!" Shane shouted, completely losing any regard for all of the people that could here him. "There is no cure! Glenn is gonna turn and there is nothing we can do about it! Now we need to kill him and we need to do it soon, before he kills us!"

After Shane's rant ended, everything around them seemed eerily quiet, Rick closed his eyes slowly and turned on the spot to see the entire group staring back at him, having heard every word.

Then he locked eyes with Glenn.

The fear in his eyes was louder than Shane would ever be able to shout. Rick knew he wasn't about to let Glenn die. He couldn't. He couldn't leave the man who had saved his life to this disastrous fate when there could well be a cure out there somewhere.

Plus, right at the back of his mind, Rick knew they needed Glenn to survive. And they needed Daryl, no Glenn, no Daryl...

That's when Glenn shot off in another direction, away from the group and towards the opening off the woods. His fast legs catapulted him a good few metres away before anyone could register what had happened.

"GLENN!" Daryl called out desperately, but Glenn didn't look back, he instead disappeared into the thick trees.

Daryl turned slightly on his heel, spared Rick one unreadable glance before he, too, took off into the woods after his boyfriend. Leaving the group not only stunned, but that much more unprotected.

Rick shook his head and turned back to Shane, who had a look of resignation on his face. He rubbed his eyes before speaking.

"Shane," he began in a hard tone, "you're my friend, and I respect your opinions, but we are going to the CDC. I'm not losing anyone else."

Rick didn't wait to see Shane's response, turning immediately on his heel and walking to his wife, waiting for Daryl to bring Glenn back.

…

Daryl ran, and he ran, and he ran, but he couldn't find Glenn anywhere. Glenn had always been a sneaky, clever thing, he could navigate deftly through the woods all day.

Daryl, being an experienced tracker, had Glenn's scent and footprints, but he could follow them all night, didn't mean he was going to catch him.

In a way, Daryl understood why Glenn had ran, after hearing what Shane had said, Daryl would have given him round 2 if his boyfriend hadn't made a run for it. Glenn feared for his life, that would send any man running.

But Glenn didn't run, Daryl knew that, Glenn stayed and faced his fears, he didn't take off.

Also, Glenn was smart, one of the smartest people Daryl knew. After last night , who was to say that the woods weren't infested with walkers? Glenn was putting his life at risk and Daryl would be damned if he was just gonna let him die.

All of sudden, Daryl came to a halt, hearing the snap of twigs and crackle of leaves directly in front of him. He immediately stilled and lifted his ever-present crossbow aloft.

He knew better than to call out for Glenn, if it was a walker in front of it, the last thing he wanted to do was to get it's attention.

Daryl slowly sneaked forward, bending his form around a tree to get a better look in front of him, ready to kill.

That's when he saw Glenn, huddled down beside a tree, holding his knees to his chest, fresh tears sliding down his face.

He was breathing heavily, clearly exhausted, and his hair was plastered to his face by sweat.

Daryl didn't say anything, he didn't move a muscle, but Glenn knew he was there. Glenn had always been able to sense Daryl's presence, he didn't know why. It was like when Daryl was around the air shifted somehow.

Glenn glanced up to him, and even that small movement was like a thousand tiny razor sharp strings tugging on his nerves; like he was dying already.

He was.

Daryl opened his mouth, tried to speak but nothing came out, only a half-breath of one barely whispered word. Glenn.

Glenn sighed to himself, sniffled a breath and then stood slowly, it felt like he was pulling every muscle in his body, but he didn't let the pain show.

It was the last thing, the very last thing Daryl needed right now.

In the back of his mind, Glenn wondered if that would be the thing that would break him, but Glenn couldn't break Daryl. Not just because he loved him and he needed him but...but because he had to survive on his own now.

When he was on his feet, the lovers stared at each other for a very long time, no one speaking, no one moving at all. Even the breeze seemed to respect the privacy of the moment, as the leaves seemed to still in the chilly autumn air.

Many things were going through Daryl's mind. He wanted to run, to hide. Part of him wanted to fight, to scream and to kill..

but mostly all he wanted to do was run across the almost eternal space between them and pull his partner against him and never let him go.

Glenn willingly allowed Daryl to wrap his strong arms around his frail body and seize him into the tightest hug he'd ever experienced.

"Daryl..." Glenn managed to whimper out, realising in that second that this was exactly where he wanted to be right now.

Where he wanted to be for the rest of his life, no matter how short that was now.

Daryl pulled back slightly, staring at Glenn like he'd never seen before. Glenn stared back, trying to decipher Daryl's forever unreadable eyes.

Before Glenn could come up with anything, however, he felt Daryl's hot mouth against his with more desperation than he had ever experienced. Glenn immediately kissed him back hungrily, desperate for these little scraps of life, of the love of his life before he didn't get those changes any more.

Daryl's mouth was hot and insistent against his and Glenn soon found himself losing air, but a part of him didn't care; a part of him wanted to be locked with Daryl until the oxygen ran out.

Daryl eventually pulled away when he realised Glenn wouldn't do it, leaning against his forehead.

"Glenn." He managed to whisper out, like his brain was capable of nothing else.

"Daryl." Began Glenn, his big, Bambi eyes meeting Daryl's.

Daryl didn't talk, waiting for Glenn to speak. He didn't breathe, either.

Glenn visibly gulped and took a deep breath. "Shane's right." He admitted in a reserved voice.

"What?" Asked Daryl.

"He's right," Glenn continued, "I'm going to turn into one of those things, it's gonna be long...and painful, unless..." He stared up at Daryl again. "You have to kill me."

Daryl backed off unintentionally. "No." He said immediately.

"Daryl, you have to!" Glenn replied, sounding suddenly desperate. "You're the only one who can do it, I want you to do it. Please."

Daryl stared into the kids big, pleading eyes. Pleading Daryl to do the one thing he could never do.

"Glenn..." He tried, walking forward, and pulling Glenn into a hug, "I can't...I'm sorry...I can't.. I just...I can't..."

Glenn didn't press the subject, biting his lip as Daryl held him.

But as Glenn wrapped his arms around Daryl's waist, Daryl could feel the heat emanating from his skin.

Burning every bit of life from Daryl.

...

They hadn't been back at the camp long when Rick had called a meeting between everyone. It had taken a long time for Daryl to convince Glenn to come back with him.

They had sat in the woods and talked. Talked of the days before the apocalypse, back when Daryl hated all the colours Glenn insisted on painting their apartment, but he let Glenn do it anyway. Or back when they knew they had to get up on a Sunday morning to visit Glenn's parents, but they could never convince each other to get out of bed, they just stayed there, warm and wrapped in each other meaning they were always an hour late.

Those times seemed to make Glenn forget, or at least put it to the back of his mind, and Daryl had slowly convinced him back to the camp and back to relative safety.

Daryl was just about to suggest Glenn get some rest when Rick had called a camp meeting. Part of Daryl cursed him for it.

"I know it's not safe here." Rick said, as they all huddled around the camp fire. "We all know that," he continued, "we lost some good people last night, and some of us are still in danger." He made a point to avoid eye contact with Glenn.

"We need to leave." He said.

"What about Fort Benning?" Asked Shane, pointedly cutting across Rick.

Rick lowered his head. "I have reason to believe the CDC may be developing a cure. In fact, they may already have one."

Daryl and Glenn stared at each other immediately. Of course, Daryl was filled with a lot of doubt, a cure...after all this time, it was too good to be true.

But a part of him hoped, prayed Rick was right.

"Then we go to the CDC." Said Daryl immediately.

"Daryl..." began Glenn, touching Daryl's arm. Daryl looked back. "Glenn, if we have any way of getting your cured, we're gonna go."

"Hang on a minute," began Shane, "this isn't your decision! You are not the leader of this group."

"No, I'm not..." Daryl said, looking at Rick.

"We go to the CDC." Rick said.

…

"Hey, Glenn! I got all your stuff packed!" Daryl called as he walked into their tent. "I was wondering if you wanted to take...Glenn?!"

Daryl was met with the sight of a waxy Glenn stuck in a painful coughing fit.

"Glenn!" Daryl exclaimed, alarmed. "Holy hell! Are you okay?"

Daryl immediately lowered himself to Glenn's level and put a hand on his shoulder until the coughing fit subsided. When Glenn retracted his hand from his mouth, Daryl saw his hand was streaked with blood.

"Are you okay?" Asked Daryl, wide eyed.

Glenn tried a weak smile. "Yeah," he answered unconvincingly.

"We're, err...leaving in about an hour but I can delay it if..."

"Daryl." Began Glenn, putting a hand up to silence him. He stared into Daryl's eyes with his tired ones. "I'm too sick to go to the CDC. Please, kill me or leave me here."

"But..." began Daryl, "the CDC might have a cure!"

"Yeah, might." Glenn counteracted. "And even if they do, I dunno if I can make it that long."

"Glenn." Began Daryl, taking Glenn's face in his hands. Their eyes met.

"You are the only thing I have." He said, slowly and seriously. "And I couldn't live with myself if you..." Daryl let out a breath. "I'm not going to let you die. I'm not going to fail you. "

Glenn stared into Daryl's eyes as Daryl slowly lowered his hands, freeing Glenn.

Glenn nodded slowly. "Okay." He said quietly, "I'll go, but I can't do this alone."

"I promise," Said Daryl, "I promise you won't do this alone."

Glenn leant forward and wrapped his arms tightly around Daryl, hoping to God there was a cure.

He heard Daryl laugh nervously as he wrapped his arms around Glenn. "Oh God, I hate you, kid."

Glenn clung desperately to Daryl, tears stinging his eyes. "I hate you, too." He whispered.


	5. Slow and Pained

When I tell you I hate you

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters. They belong to their respective owners.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait, guys. I had some computer trouble. Gosh, this story is beginning to upset me. Hope you enjoy x

Chapter 5: Slow and Pained

A convoy of cars and trucks driving throughout Southern American was nothing but a giant beacon to any Walkers passing by. But there was nothing that any of the survivors could do about it, if Shane had his way, they would not be on their way to the CDC, if Shane had his way Glenn would be dead. If Shane had his way and Glenn would dead, Shane would have probably been dead too, because Daryl wouldn't have hesitated to kill him.

T-Dog had taken Daryl's truck for him with Merle's chopper in the back while Daryl stayed in the RV with Glenn. T-Dog still blamed himself for Merle and now Glenn and was doing Daryl all kinds of favours, while it was kind of handy at times it was getting fucking annoying. Daryl wanted everyone to leave him alone with Glenn, so if it did turn out these were Glenn's last days Daryl could make sure he wasn't alone.

"Hey," said Daryl as cheerily as he could as he walked into the back of the RV where Glenn was lying on a make-shift bed. At this point it occurred to Daryl that Glenn looked the same as that time a few years ago he'd gotten the flu, stuffy, light-heated.

Glenn coughed slightly as he raised his eyes to Daryl. It hurt to move, it hurt even to glance up at Daryl but Glenn didn't want to let on.

He wasn't even sure if he could hide anything from Daryl though.

"Hey...baby..." Glenn answered, wincing as he sat up and felt that all too familiar tugging pain in his chest.

Daryl just stood there for a long moment, looking like he wasn't sure whether he should be moving or staying still, splaying his hands by his sides.

"How are you?" He asked, walking decidedly to Glenn's side.

Glenn smiled weakly, and it almost ripped Daryl's heart from his chest. Glenn always did that. When he was ill or tired and Daryl would ask how he was, Glenn would always smile at him, the smile would be weak and pained but genuine.

That was what hurt Daryl the most. Those painful stabs from the past were no longer welcome to him, they weren't good memories any more.

Not when Glenn could be ripped from him any second.

"I'm fine." Glenn answered, sounding marginally stronger before he reached out for Daryl with his arm, knotting their fingers together and tugging Daryl down to him.

Glenn's skin was blazing hot to the touch and his grip was forceless and frail, like his whole body could collapse like a fragile doll.

Daryl allowed Glenn to pull him down beside him, their hips touched and Daryl snaked an arm around his burning waist, fighting the urge to pull him closer in case it hurt.

"You off watch?" Glenn asked.

"Dale took over for a bit." Daryl grunted, "guy thinks I can't cope."

Glenn didn't say a word, didn't know what to say. Daryl had to cope.

"Daryl, listen..." But before Glenn could finish his sentence, his stomach lurched violently and he felt the burning bile tearing it's way up his throat. He lurched back immediately, away from Daryl.

Daryl sensed Glenn's nausea immediately and dove for the industrial bucket Carol had left for Glenn.

Glenn leant his head over the edge of the bucket, unable to take it away from Daryl, and vomited loudly and violently into the make-shift basin.

Daryl almost had to squint his eyes shut as Glenn keened in pain.

The vomiting sounds were soon replaced by heavy breathing and grunting, Daryl moved the bucket to one side carefully and grabbed one of the blankets off of the bed.

He sat down and gently, ever so gently, lifted the still gasping Glenn onto his waist.

Glenn tried to say something but only a shallow cough escaped his acidic throat.

"Shh." Said Daryl soothingly, stroking one hand up Glenn's fiery cheek whilst the other dabbed gently at the corners of his mouth with the blanket.

Glenn encircled his arms around Daryl's neck so his face was more accessible in this seating position. Not because Daryl wanted to clean Glenn up, but because Daryl needed to hear every word Glenn had to say.

Glenn's throat felt singed. The lack of food meant that every time he vomited it was pure stomach acid and it was ripping his throat to shreds. Glenn's eyes were stinging and every time he opened his mouth a dry cough tried to escape but Glenn fought it off.

"Daryl..." began Glenn.

"Shh." Daryl repeated, concentrating on Glenn's mouth, "it's okay. I gotcha."

"No, Daryl..." Glenn persisted, his voice sounded raspy. "Need...need you to...to survive."

Daryl chuckled dryly. "S'all I do, kid."

Glenn shook his head slightly, coughing again as he spoke. "Need you to...survive...without...me."

Daryl suddenly stopped his task and looked properly at Glenn.

He coughed again and felt his throat begin to clear.

There were rare moments in life where Daryl felt completely speechless, having grown up with his Dad and brother, but right now...he couldn't think of what to say. He couldn't process what Glenn had said to him.

"What?" Asked Daryl, grinning nervously, half-sure he had misheard what Glenn had said.

"I mean it, Daryl." Glenn continued, his voice was sounding relatively normal now, albeit serious. "The CDC, they might not have a cure. They might not have a clue. If that happens then I need you..."

"Glenn," began Daryl suddenly, interrupting his boyfriend. "You can't talk like that," he continued, voice small. "You can't."

"Daryl." Glenn continued, and something in his voice dragged Daryl's eyes up to his and kept them there. His eyes looked so tired.

"I need you," Glenn repeated, "to survive. To make something of yourself. Don't give up hope."

"I don't know if I can." Daryl admitted honestly, looking down.

Glenn reached out and cupped his hand around Daryl's chin, lifting his face to his.

It felt like Glenn's hand was torching his skin.

"These people need you." Glenn reminded Daryl.

"I need you." Daryl barely whispered.

Suddenly, Glenn's eyes began to tear up. He didn't want to leave Daryl behind, he didn't want to go.

He didn't want to lose everything.

"Glenn...?" Daryl asked, sounding concerned.

Glenn leant forward and pressed his lips to Daryl. Daryl kissed him softly, trying to ignore the heat seeping into his mouth.

…

When the convoy had stopped for the night on the side of the road, Carol and Lori had come to see Glenn.

Carol touched Daryl's arm affectionately and told him to go and take a break, Daryl smiled gratefully and headed out into the night.

Daryl walked between the tall, dark trees holding his crossbow aloft. He supposed if he saw any animals he could do a bit of hunting, that would help the group.

But the main reason Daryl was out in here in the night, in the danger, was because he needed to clear his head. He knew Glenn had doubts about the CDC from the start, but he'd never thought Glenn would say those things.

He'd never contemplated life without him.

Daryl tried to envision it momentarily. Moving on, surviving without Glenn by his side. A hole beside him.

Daryl sighed to himself.

Daryl stopped walking immediately as he heard a crunch of leaves in front of him. He listened out carefully and the noises continued, getting closer, he readied his crossbow.

Daryl instantly winced when he heard the familiar groans of the undead, he'd never get used to it.

The Walkers came into view, they were two males. One had a broken leg he was dragging behind him as he made his way towards Daryl and the other was missing an eye.

Both had bite marks around their mouths where their flesh was missing, they'd obviously gnawed at themselves before they went to find fresh meat.

The stench of rotting flesh flared in Daryl's nostrils and his nose wrinkled in disgust.

He flicked the safety off on his crossbow and fingered the trigger, looking at death.

Looking at death.

Daryl stayed completely immobile, letting his crossbow fall to his side.

He was staring at death. He was staring at where Glenn was going, but if he looked away he'd be staring at that world where he'd be walking around with nothing but a hole beside him.

Daryl didn't believe for one second that if he died here and now he would be going to some bullshit heaven where he and Glenn would be happy forever.

But he did know that if he died he wouldn't have to live never seeing Glenn's face again, never hearing his voice. He saw the Walkers get dangerously close to him, he closed his eyes.

Never seeing his face, never hearing his voice...

Don't give up hope.

Daryl opened his eyes immediately.

The Walker who was missing an eye was inches from his face, reaching out for him. Daryl lifted his crossbow immediately and shot straight through what was left of it's brain.

He reached into his jeans for his switch-blade and ran forward and embedded it into the second Walkers eye socket.

He stabbed repeatedly until the Walker fell limply to the ground. Breathing heavily, Daryl wiped the blood from his switch-blade onto the grass and tucked it back into his belt.

He stared down at the corpses for a long while, not really thinking anything before he turned and headed back before any more came his way.

Daryl had ventured out further than he had first thought, but he'd always had a natural sense of direction so he knew which way he was going.

Daryl was in turmoil with himself. Back there...he'd lost his mind. For a split second he'd actually lost his mind and actually wanted those things to rip into him with their teeth and give him the same fate as...

Daryl shook his head, realising that if Glenn hadn't grounded him back there he would be dead now. He would be dead and Glenn would be alone, the one thing Daryl had promised Glenn was that he wouldn't be alone.

Daryl couldn't just clock out like that and leave him, he was being a fucking idiot.

Daryl reached their make-shift camp some time later, still reserved in his own thoughts.

"Daryl?" Asked Dale, lowering his rifle as Daryl came back into view. He chuckled slightly. "I thought you were a Walker for a second there."

Daryl shot him a shallow smile, well aware Dale would see through it in a second.

He didn't say anything else though, and Daryl silently thanked him for that.

Daryl opened the door to the RV and placed his crossbow onto the ground.

Lori was sat beside Glenn, chatting to him and Carol was beside the door.

"Carol," asked Daryl when he walked in, "do you mind if I see Glenn, on my own for a bit?"

She smiled slightly. "Sure thing." She said before walking to Lori and whispering something in her ear. Lori stood and walked to the door with Carol in tow, she gave Daryl an apologetic smile before she left, leaving Daryl and Glenn alone.

They stared at each other for a long moment, not saying anything. Glenn looked weaker than when Daryl left him.

As Daryl stared at him, he wondered whether he should tell him. Tell him about his moment of weakness, tell him he nearly died.

But he couldn't. Daryl really wanted to tell Glenn, he wanted to tell the one person in the world he could talk to about anything, but he couldn't.

Glenn wasn't strong enough to know Daryl had been planning on checking out. Glenn needed a solid support and Daryl knew that, he just couldn't do that to him.

"How are you?" Asked Daryl quietly.

Glenn laughed, but there was no humour in his voice.

"We'll be at the CDC tomorrow." Daryl said, trying to inject some hope into his voice.

"Yeah, Lori said." Glenn commented, his voice sounded croaky.

Daryl's eyes travelled slowly over Glenn's form, he could almost see his muscles quivering.

"Can I get you anything?" Daryl asked, hating this awkwardness between them.

Glenn remained silent for so long that Daryl began to think that he hadn't actually heard him, but then, finally Glenn looked up to Daryl, an unfamiliar look in his eyes.

"Actually..." Glenn asked slowly, eyes moving slowly. "I don't think I have that much time left..."

"Glenn..." Daryl interrupted immediately but Glenn silenced him.

"Daryl!" Began Glenn, with more strength in his voice than Daryl had heard all day. "Look...I could die, I've excepted that. I hate it but I'm a realist, you know I am. I only want one last thing before I go."

"What?" Asked Daryl in barely a whisper, eyes fixed on Glenn.

Glenn dipped his eyes slightly before bringing them back up and locking eyes with Daryl . "...I want you to make love to me one last time."

Daryl stared at Glenn, mind numb.

Before even he knew what was going on, Daryl had crossed to Glenn and kissed him slowly, softly.

Glenn moaned slightly into Daryl's mouth but not from pain.

Daryl undressed quickly and gently pulled Glenn's shirt over his head, the skin at their chests connecting and over-heating in Daryl's skin.

Daryl wrapped one hand around Glenn's waist and pulled him gently closer whilst with the other he reached around for the bottle of sun block on the side he had seen when he came in.

Daryl disconnected the kiss and met Glenn's eyes, the pair stared at each other without saying a word as Daryl wrapped both arms around Glenn and ever so gently laid him down on the make-shift bed. Daryl undid Glenn's belt and pulled his pants off of his legs and discarded them to the floor, never once breaking eye contact.

Glenn wrapped his legs around Daryl's waist and pulled him gently closer to him. The atmosphere was heavy and silent but it didn't feel wrong, it just...hurt. That sweet horrific pain of loss and love and connection but connection for the last time.

Daryl let the sun block drizzle onto his half-hard cock and rubbed it into himself, slicking himself up until he was fully hard.

He then squeezed a generous amount onto his hand and rubbed it over his fingers before pressing his index finger to Glenn's burning hole.

Glenn arched his back helplessly as Daryl pressed a finger inside him slowly. "Daryl..." Glenn moaned quietly, "more...please..."

Daryl pressed a second finger into Glenn and shivered as he heard him moan louder. Daryl curled his fingers inside Glenn and he keened, albeit weakly.

Daryl gently pulled his fingers out and positioned his cock at Glenn's wet, quivering hole. They'd never done it raw before, but Daryl supposed it didn't make much of a difference now.

Daryl slowly pushed his cock into Glenn, watching with painful awe as Glenn arched his back as he took inch after inch into himself.

When Daryl was fully seated inside his boyfriend he felt his eyes roll to the back of his head.

This feeling...it was more intense than anything he'd ever experienced, more intense than any time they'd made love before.

Daryl saw Glenn's eyes screwed up and knew he was feeling the same. Daryl pulled out slowly and drove back in, slower than he'd ever gone before.

Each slow thrust brought a new sort of pleasure, the pleasure hurt. It hurt so much, not physically, but knowing this would be the last time he'd ever feel this way.

The pitch of Glenn's moans changed slightly and Daryl looked to see Glenn had silent tears streaming down his face. Daryl stilled immediately and went to pull out before Glenn's legs tightened around him with a much strength as he could muster.

Glenn took Daryl's face into his hands, eyes still streaming. "Don't stop." He quietly pleaded. "You're not hurting me."

Suddenly, Daryl understood. Glenn was feeling the painful pleasure, he felt filled and complete but empty and lost at the same time.

Daryl ran a hand through Glenn's sweat-soaked hair and kissed him softly, thrusting back in.

They continued like this, every thrust slow and pained and sweet, Glenn came before Daryl, arching his back and crying out quietly.

Soon, the unbearable heat around Daryl's cock became too much and he went to pull out before Glenn stopped him.

"Come in me." He pleaded breathlessly, and Daryl complied. Coming deep inside his boyfriend and watching as Glenn moaned contently.

Glenn felt his own seed cooling on his stomach, and for the first time in what seemed like an age there was a part of his body that was cold.

…

They had slept in each others arms that night, Glenn slept soundly, sated, whilst Daryl stayed up the whole night staring at Glenn. Peaceful and painless in sleep.

When it struck dawn and light began to seep through the windows Daryl left before Glenn woke up to wash the sweat from his body.

As Daryl poured the cold water over himself from the river he'd found near the roadside it felt like he was washing away everything that had happened last night.

Not just Glenn but the Walkers and his suicidal thoughts, he washed all that away. When he dried himself he felt a sudden renewed hope.

They'd be at the CDC today and if they were very very lucky...

Daryl made his way back to the RV, trying to push every bad thought from his mind and focus on the positive.

Glenn didn't believe for a second he was going to make it out alive, but Daryl wouldn't let Glenn go down without a fight.

He'd promised him that.

In fact, he'd promised him that as soon as they met.

Daryl reached for the door handle of the RV, shouldering his crossbow.

But his hawk-like hearing picked up the faintest of crashes from inside the RV and his mind was automatically transported back to his first Walker, all that time ago, when he'd been innocently trying to return mail to a friend.

A feeling of intense dread filled Daryl's stomach as he carefully opened the door...


	6. Take care of him

When I tell you I hate you

Disclaimer: I do not own the Walking Dead or any of the characters, they belong to their respective owners.

Chapter 6: Take care of him

Around Two Years Ago

"You can't do this to me!" Glenn Shouted indignantly, not caring who heard him.

"Glenn..." began his boss, "you don't have to shout, there's nothing I can do."

"You could have fired anyone else," Glenn continued to rant, "you could have fired Mark, who sits around all day and gives all his delivers to Pete, who pretty much eats all the Pizza's anyway, I actually do my job!"

Glenn sucked in a quick breath. "I need this job, Terry. It's all I have to get me through college."

Terry was silent for a moment. "Sorry, Glenn. Clear your stuff out and give me your keys."

Anger seemed to trickle from Glenn and replace itself with a mild kind of despair. Terry had always been an asshole from day one, he'd always hated Glenn, so of course when he needed to lay off a few people Glenn would be one of the first to go.

"Maybe he only hates me because I'm a decent guy." Glenn muttered to himself as he walked out of the building.

With no money for the bus he prepared himself for the long walk to his parents house.

Generally, Glenn liked walking. Not to the extent where he would plan hiking trips or drive all the way to the countryside, but sometimes just walking along in the warm air with your headphones in allowed you some time to think, or to escape and that was really what he could use right now.

But, unfortunately it was raining heavily and his phone battery had run out.

Glenn felt his shoulders sag as the rain effectively made his jacket hood useless and ran down his back.

Glenn didn't want to think right now, he didn't want to come face to face with the truth.

Without a job, he couldn't afford to stay at college and without a job he wouldn't be able to keep up on the rent so he'd get kicked out, and without a fixed address he'd never find another job.

Glenn was left alone with these thoughts for a long time before he reached his parents house and he still had no idea what he was going to do.

When his mother opened the door she exclaimed in dismay.

"Oh, Glenn, you're soaking!" She exclaimed.

"Yeah, it's raining." Glenn explained as he walked into his parents house and struggled out of his sopping jacket.

"Hold on," his mother began, "I still have some of your old clothes somewhere, lets see if they still fit you."

"No, Mom, it's alright..." but Glenn's words fell on empty silence as his Mom had already gone.

Glenn took his shoes and socks off and walked into the lounge, his father cracked a smile when he saw him.

"Hey Dad." Said Glenn.

"You look a little wet." His father observed, Glenn rolled his eyes.

"You're early," he continued, "your grandmother's birthday dinner isn't for a few hours yet, I thought you'd still be at work."

"Yeah," said Glenn, not wanting to sit down incase he got the furniture wet. "I got fired today so I thought I'd come straight over."

"What?" Asked his father incredulously as his mother walked back into the room holding a pile of clothes.

"Here you are dear," she said, handing the pile to Glenn, "you go get dried up, your grandmother will be hear soon."

"Thanks, Mom." Said Glenn, he meant to walk out of the room before his father stopped him. "Hold up, Glenn-" his father interrupted, "how did you lose your job?"

"You lost your job?!" His mother exclaimed.

Glenn sighed internally. "Look, I don't want to talk about it..."

"You didn't do anything wrong though, did you Glenn?" His mother asked.

"No!" Glenn retorted defensively. "They had to lay a few people off because of budget cuts and my boss has had it in for me from the start."

"But what about your tuition, and your apartment?" Asked his mother, fretting.

Glenn shrugged minutely. "I guess I just have to find a way to keep myself afloat until I can find another job."

"We'll give you the money, son." His father said and his mother nodded.

Glenn shook his head. "Guys, that's silly. You don't have the money, and besides, I don't want to take it."

"But, what will you do?" Asked his mother.

"Can't you ask Daryl for help?" His father suggested, and his mother bristled.

"You can't seriously tell me you're still seeing that redneck." She scoffed.

Glenn became immediately defensive.

"Don't say that," Glenn began immediately, "he isn't some redneck, I love him."

"You should give him a chance, Audrey." Glenn's father said lightly to his mother. "He seems like a good guy."

"You know I've always wanted nothing but the best for you, sweetheart." She began, stroking his still-wet cheek. "I always wanted you to end up with someone financially secure, and well educated. Someone who could take of you."

"I don't need anyone to take care of me," began Glenn, trying to calm the anger swelling in his stomach. "And Daryl is financially secure, he'll own his own business one day, and he is clever, even though he never went to a posh school. Besides, even if he didn't have any of those things I'd still love him."

"I know, Dear." His mother conceded, though she didn't look convinced. "Now go and get changed."

…

Glenn snuggled into Daryl's chest and felt the arm Daryl had around him grow tighter.

They were inside Glenn's apartment, lounging around on the sofa and watching a really terrible film.

Glenn had no idea what was going on and so had to bug Daryl every ten minutes to get him to explain the plot line.

"I told you-" Daryl laughed, rolling his eyes, "that guy killed her at the beginning of the film, why would he be on the run if he hadn't done anything?"

"No, he didn't kill her, that bald guy killed her!" Glenn countered.

"No, he didn't..." Daryl twisted his head round to face Glenn, who was grinning up at him. "I don't even know why I let you hang round me."

""Cause you love me!" Glenn said in a voice.

Daryl rubbed his shoulder. "No, I hate you." Daryl joked.

Glenn huffed, mock-offended. "Well, then. I hate you, too." He admitted.

Daryl laughed. "So," he began after a while, "are you gonna tell me what's up?"

Glenn looked at him. "What do you mean, how do you know something is up?"

Daryl rolled his eyes. "I just do, alright. So, what is it?"

Glenn sighed. "I kinda...lost my job today."

"What?" Asked Daryl, reaching for the remote and pausing the film. "What happened?"

"Terry was losing money, he had to fire a couple of people and I went."

Daryl huffed. "That bastards' always had it in for you."

"Tell me about it," Glenn amended.

"But, what about college, and rent?" Daryl asked. "Have you asked your folks for help?"

"No," Glenn admitted, "but I don't want their money, even if they had it. I can do this on my own. Besides, I don't need my tuition money until the end of the semester so I should be fine until I find another job, it's just keeping the place." He gestured redundantly around the apartment.

Daryl's eyes followed his hand for a second. "I would offer to help, but I know you'd never accept it because you're a stubborn brat."

Glenn huffed a noise in agreement.

"But..." Daryl continued, "I can ask you to move in with me."

Glenn sat up a little straighter. "What?" He asked, "are you serious?"

"Course I am." Daryl assured him. "An' you can't have a go at me because I've been planning to ask you anyways."

"You were?"Asked Glenn, not sure what to say.

"Yeah," Daryl admitted, he sat up a little straighter. "I know we haven't been going out for that long but, I guess, I..." He grinned cheekily, "I guess I hate you, so..."

Glenn laughed and threw his arms around Daryl's shoulders, kissing him.

"Why did it take you so long to ask me?" He breathed against Daryl's cheek.

Daryl chuckled. "Because, you never accept anyone's help, I thought you'd think I was trying to treat you like a kid or something."

Glenn sighed. "I'm sorry I get like that sometimes."

"Don't you dare apologize."Daryl said immediately, placing another kiss on Glenn's lips.

Glenn sighed contentedly as he felt Daryl's hands slide up his shirt and roam over his skin.

"Can I..." began Glenn, before arching in pleasure when Daryl began to suckle across his neck.

"Can I...decorate?" Glenn gasped out.

"You can do anything you want..." Daryl murmured against his skin, "so long as you shut up and let me fuck you."

Glenn smiled before lapsing into silence.

…

Glenn's father took a marked box from Glenn's arms and made his way to the door of the apartment.

"Hey, thanks for helping, guys." Glenn admitted as his mother packed Glenn's CD's into another box.

"Happy to help, son." Glenn's father called out before he disappeared through the door.

Glenn crossed to his mother and took the CD's from her hands. "I've got this, Mom. Why don't you go make yourself a nice drink?"

Glenn's mother looked up and met his eyes and Glenn's smile faltered. "Mom?"He asked. "You don't look to happy."

"Are you sure you want to move in with him?' She asked, and Glenn sighed.

"Mom, are we really going to go over this again?" Asked Glenn, exasperated.

"Baby, it just seems like things are getting awfully serious..."

Glenn turned sharply to his mother. "Why can't you just let me be happy?" He asked suddenly, shocking his mother. "Mom, I love you. You know I do, and I love him. I'm not asking you to love Daryl or treat him like a son, I'm just asking you to respect my decisions. Daryl is good for me. Why would he be doing all this if he didn't care about me?"

His mother sighed and looked down. "Look," she began, "I don't hate Daryl. I just don't want you to close off all your options when you're so young."

Glenn opened his mouth to protest but his mother beat him too it.

"But-"she continued, "you're right, you're an adult and you need to make your own decisions."

Glenn smiled slightly before moving forward and wrapping his arms around his mother. "Thank you." He said quietly.

They broke apart when Glenn's father walked back into the apartment talking animately to Daryl.

Daryl was laughing at something Glenn's father had said. "Jeez, Martin, why couldn't Glenn get your damn funny bone?"

Glenn's father clapped Daryl on the back as Glenn scowled at him.

When everyone got back to work packing boxes Daryl pulled Glenn aside. "Hey," said Glenn. "You need to stop hitting on my Dad."

Daryl laughed. "Sorry kid, no can do."He looked over to Glenn's parent's. "Hey, does your Mom still hate me?" He asked quietly, "because it makes me really nervous.""

"No," Glenn assured him, slipping his hand into Daryl's. "She just needs to get to know you, and then she'll love you as much as I do."

Daryl stroked Glenn's hand with his finger and raised an eyebrow. "You'no, if you want me to stop hitting on your Dad you're gonna have to stop trying to set me up with your Mom."

Glenn shoved him playfully.

…

"Son, get over here, I need your help carrying this to the car."

Glenn crossed to his father and took one end of his guitar amp. He had no idea how to play, of course, but he'd promised himself he'd learned.

He assumed Daryl could play, there wasn't much Daryl couldn't do.

"You sure you want to leave Daryl alone with Mom?" Glenn asked playfully in a voice quiet enough so only his father and Daryl would hear.

"Ah, Daryl's strong." His father reminded him, winking at Daryl.

Daryl grinned back at him. He didn't know it now, but one day in the not-to-distant future, he would really miss Martin.

Daryl watched as Glenn and Martin disappeared through the door. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Glenn's mother approach him.

Daryl turned quickly. He'd always had a difficult relationship with Audrey Rhee, and he pretended to have no idea why she disliked him so much, but really it was obvious.

He was a good-for-nothing redneck who was no good for her son, or at least that's what she saw.

Daryl lived in fear that one day Glenn might start to believe it, too.

"Daryl", Glenn's mother began suddenly, startling Daryl.

He turned on the spot to face her, smiling slightly, unsure of what to say.

"I guess, I've been a little harsh on you." She continued.

"Harsh about what?" Asked Daryl, even though he knew exactly what she meant.

She didn't answer him, but he was sure he saw the faintest of smiles on her lips.

"Take care of my son." She said seriously before walking past him. Daryl watched her retreating back and sighed in relief.

…

Present Day

Take care of my son.

Daryl could hear Audrey's words as clear as bell as he held the door handle to the RV, it had been so long since he'd seen her, so long since she'd said those words to him.

Of course Daryl would look after Glenn no matter what, he didn't need to be instructed to, but that was a sort of acceptance from his mother so he'd always honoured it, always swore to take care of Glenn for as long as he lived.

And as soon as that feeling of intense dread had filled him as he heard commotion from inside the RV, that memory had blasted between his eyes.

Daryl stared at his hand, his knuckles were turning white.

A part of him couldn't do it, he couldn't turn the handle and walk inside, the crashing noises were becoming fewer and far-between.

Take care of my son.

Daryl took a large breath and opened the door.

A loud shriek almost knocked Daryl of his feet in shock, it was shrill and inhuman.

The crashes were louder now, Daryl peered into the RV and three large bats swooped down past his head and out of the open door.

Daryl lurched back in shock and felt the air ripple past him.

Daryl looked around the RV, it looked like a bomb had hit it. The sparse furniture was scattered across the floor and some of it was broken in the bats commotion.

Daryl walked across to the broken window, glancing down at the shards of glass scattering the floor where the bats must have broken the window from the outside getting in, then couldn't figure out how to get out again.

Daryl wasn't surprised, this used to happen a lot where he used to live with his dad, but right now he couldn't care less about the bats.

Glenn wasn't here. He wasn't in the bathroom, he wasn't anywhere in the RV.

Daryl rushed from the vehicle, looking madly around for any sign of him, his mind briefly jumped to the conclusion that Shane had done something, but when he walked into the make-shift camp and saw Shane talking to T-dog, he realised he couldn't have done anything.

Daryl ran to Rick and the others, a look of desperation on his face.

"Daryl, what's wrong?" Asked Lori immediately as he approached.

"I can't find Glenn," Daryl began, talking fast. "He's not in the RV."

"Daryl-" began Rick, "calm down, I'm sure he's just fine. I'll get everyone to look for him, okay?"

Daryl nodded reverently. "Yeah, okay. You do that, I'm gonna start searching now."

Rick nodded and Lori took hold of his arm. "Good luck."

Daryl didn't spare them a second glance before he raced off in another direction.

Daryl reasoned that if Glenn had gone on his own, he wouldn't have got very far.

Daryl decided to head in the direction of the river, Glenn had half-commented that it would be a nice walking route if he wasn't sick.

Daryl remembered how much Glenn liked to walk.

Daryl passed through a few trees, crossbow held aloft, but his mind was elsewhere.

He was trying so hard not to think the worst, but he couldn't help the thoughts sneak into the back of his mind.

Among other things, if walkers had set on Glenn, he was in no condition to fight them off, Daryl quickened his pace.

Daryl stopped as he came to the river edge, he could see Glenn's silhouette stood a few feet away from him, apparently staring into the river. He wasn't moving a muscle, like he was some kind of statue.

Daryl didn't call out to him just incase there were walkers nearby, he instead walked to Glenn, letting his crossbow fall to his side.

He didn't feel the urge to run to Glenn, to hold him tight. There was something so eerie in the way he was standing stock still, the way he didn't turn around when Daryl approached even though Daryl knew he could hear him.

Daryl stood next to Glenn, Glenn's eyes were fixated on the water.

"Glenn..." Daryl began softly, afraid to even reach out and touch him. "Glenn, what the hell are you doing out here?"

"I wanted to come here." He said after a few long moments of silence. His voice sounded hollow and empty.

"Glenn," Daryl continued, "you've got to keep your strength up, and you shouldn't have come here alone..."

Glenn turned to Daryl. His face was pale and sullen but his eyes...they were brightest Daryl had ever seen them.

"Daryl, I..." Suddenly, Glenn let out a loud moan of pain and keeled over. Daryl shot his arms out and caught him.

The angle of Glenn's body weight was too much so Daryl lowered himself to his knees, cradling Glenn in his grip.

"What the hell is going on?" Asked Daryl desperately.

Glenn smiled slightly, but it looked pained. "I came here because I knew I was going to die."

Glenn's body spasmed in Daryl's arms again. "There wasn't enough time."

Daryl felt the tears pricking at his eyes as he felt the shear weight of Glenn dying in his arms.

"Why didn't you wait for me?" He asked, his voice was heavy and his words were punctured by the sobs shaking his body.

"I was waiting for you," Glenn replied, slight grin still in place. "Here you are."

Suddenly, Glenn's smile dropped and the tears began welling at his eyes.

"Daryl..."he began, tears dripping down into his open mouth. "I'm sorry..."

"No." Daryl said, shaking his head. "No, this isn't going to happen, this won't happen, I promised your Mom I would take care of you and that's what I'm going to do."

He gripped the hand Glenn had rested on his forearm. "I'm gonna save you, Glenn."

Glenn stared up at Daryl for a long moment, tears still streaming down his face.

"You did save me," Glenn began, his shaking seemed to die down ever so slightly. "If I could do it all over again and it would still end this way...I would still chose you."

Daryl let out a loud, racking sob and clung to Glenn.

"You can be so much more..." Glenn continued, his shaking body making every word come out in a stutter. "You can be part of the new world...I'm only a little bit of your life..."

Daryl's fiery eyes suddenly met Glenn's. "You are...my whole life."He said, "I'm gonna love you 'til I die."

Glenn smiled a pained, anguished smile up at Daryl, and then the smile began to fade.

"No," began Daryl, shifting Glenn in his arms. "No...no...no..." he continued, voice shaking with desperation as he looked down at the only man he'd ever love fading away.

It was a few seconds later that Glenn's breathing stopped altogether.

Daryl stared at the body in his arms for moment that felt like an eternity. He didn't feel the world crash around him, he felt...numb.

Alone.

Dead.

Daryl reared his head up and screamed in pure agony, walkers coming for him didn't even cross his mind as he slumped forward onto Glenn's finally cold body and clutched to it, screaming and sobbing and dying inside his own mind.

Daryl didn't know how long he stayed there for, alone in this world where nothing touched him and nothing mattered except seeing Glenn blinking again, feeling him moving...

Daryl froze when he felt the slightest brush against his inner thigh. He was so numb and cold he thought he'd already seen hell; he was wrong.

Glenn's eyelids fluttered open and his glazed over orbs stared up at Daryl.


	7. Weakness

When I tell you I hate you

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters, they belong to their respective owners.

Chapter 7: Weakness

Daryl watched in horror as the thing that had once been Glenn Rhee stared back up at him, his eyes were so glazed over they were almost white. His mouth opened in a quiet snarl and Daryl just knew, this thing only had one identity, it was a walker.

Daryl stared, he could do nothing but. In the back of his mind he realised that he should run, that his honed skills of evasion he'd learned over the course of the apocalypse should kick in and and he should run but he just didn't.

He remembered a few days ago when he'd stood in the woods and nearly let those walkers attack him, he had just wanted to stay there and let them do it.

But right now...he just...didn't want to move, like he suddenly got really tired and couldn't stand up.

He just stayed there, staring. He looked at the face he'd once kissed taken over by this rot. This glazed, almost confused expression staring back at him.

He felt the walker reach an arm out and touch his neck, Daryl shivered. The touch was ice cold, the touch of the dead.

He felt the arm on his neck tighten and pull him down, he watched the walkers mouth open in a low growl.

The walker pulled Daryl down to his level and Daryl could feel it's breath ghosting over his skin but his brain remained silent.

"Daryl!"

Daryl jerked backwards and suddenly the fog lifted and his mind focused, his lips turning up into a grimace, he shoved the walkers' hand away from him and launched himself from the ground.

He watched as Rick, closely followed by Shane, neared him, both holding hunting rifles.

As he passed, Rick gave Daryl a look of despair before he launched himself on the walker.

Daryl watched as the thing that had been Glenn launched itself at Rick and Shane and the pair grappled it and brought it to the ground, Daryl felt momentary fear for his friends but he felt something else too.

He couldn't stay here, he couldn't help them bring Glenn down.

He shook his head to himself, not Glenn.

Rick had woken him up from his daze and saved his life but now he could feel. He could feel everything, Glenn was dead.

His Glenn, the love of his fucking life was dead and he was never coming back.

Daryl felt the tears sting his eyes and his hands flew to his face, he blocked out the view before him and turned on his heel and rocketed away in the other direction.

He couldn't. His whole life, he'd been able to deal with most things that life had thrown at him. Hell, he'd even been able to deal with the goddamn apocalypse! But this...he just couldn't.

He'd worked like a dog his whole life just to get through the day and now...he didn't have anything left in him. He didn't feel strong any more, if he felt anything, then he felt all alone.

After he'd been running for nearly 20 minutes, getting further and further away from the camp, Daryl collapsed onto the ground. It was soggy and cold and he could feel his jeans soaking through.

He was aware that he was in the middle of nowhere with no weapons but it had no place in his mind right now.

He didn't want to die, he didn't want anything.

Daryl felt himself cry, he felt the tears streaming down his face. He'd never cried much, and he'd never cried in front of anyone. This signified true weakness to him, when he physically broke down and cried.

In fact, the only person he'd ever cried in front of in his whole life was Glenn.

…

Around 2 years earlier

Daryl stalked back into his apartment, placing his tools unceremoniously down on the floor and throwing his jacket onto the couch. He looked around his home, not much but his, and he had no idea what to do with himself.

He felt like a lost soul, like he had all these emotions inside him but on the surface he was deadly calm.

He heard whistling coming from the small kitchen and closed his eyes. Glenn must be here. He'd given Glenn a key to his apartment a few weeks ago and Glenn liked to come in before Daryl got back and cook him dinner on days he wasn't at college. Glenn wasn't particularly good at cooking but Daryl loved it all the same.

But right now, now wasn't the best time and he felt like he just needed to be alone.

He walked into the kitchen to see Glenn peering into a pot with a look of confusion on his face, Daryl fought off the need to smile.

"Hey," he said quietly.

"Hey," began Glenn cheerfully without looking up. "Now, this may seem weird but I promise it will taste..." as he spoke, he looked up and saw Daryl. He didn't look ill but he looked bad. He looked like he was in bad shape, it may have passed someone by who didn't know him very well but Glenn picked up on it immediately.

"Hey," he began, the word changing from a cheery greeting to comforting question.

"What's wrong?"

Daryl laughed humourlessly to himself before running a hand through his hair, it was getting long now, longer than Daryl would normally have had it but Glenn seemed to prefer it that way so he couldn't bring himself to get it cut.

"My Dad died this morning."

He hadn't planned on telling Glenn, he'd planned to ask him to leave until he felt better but for some reason he was talking.

"Oh my God," said Glenn softly, "I'm so sorry."

Daryl could see the mixed emotions in Glenn's eyes and couldn't blame him. Glenn had only met his father once when he'd stumbled into Daryl's apartment in the middle of the night roaring drunk and Daryl had ended up in the emergency room. That whole situation had embarrassed Daryl to the high heavens and his father had never been mentioned again.

"Are you okay?" Glenn asked slowly and Daryl shrugged.

"I...I don't know." He admitted, "I mean..."

Daryl felt that bubbling pit of emotion in his stomach that he'd felt when he'd first heard the news from Merle.

He shook his head slightly. "I just..."

But Glenn was already on him and hugging him tight. "I know," he said.

And he did know, Daryl was sure of it. It wasn't that he was sad his dad had died, he was the biggest dick of them all, but he was just so overcome by all these emotions he didn't particularly understand that it made him want to cry for the first time in a long time.

Glenn pulled back and saw the silent tear stains on Daryl's face and his eyes went lax with sympathy, Daryl closed his eyes. He'd never let anyone see him cry, it showed weakness. He didn't want Glenn to think he was weak.

But before he could open his eyes again he felt Glenn's lips pressed against his, Daryl kissed him back instinctively and almost knew in that moment that he wouldn't ever love someone quite as much as he loved Glenn.

"It's okay," Glenn whispered, hugging him. "I've got you."

Daryl wrapped his arms around his boyfriend and felt his heart beat faster. He hadn't expected this, he hadn't expected Glenn to see him as anything other than weak but he just...didn't.

It was like around Glenn he could actually be himself in front of someone and he'd never been able to do that his whole life.

Glenn had given him freedom in the land of the free.

…

Present day

Daryl ran a hand through his hair, too long as it was, and felt trapped again. He felt that cage around himself that he hadn't felt since Glenn had come into his life and suddenly everything felt like ten years ago, before he met Glenn, before the apocalypse, back when he was living a loveless life that he'd hated.

Daryl sat there between the thick of the trees for what must have been hours, staring down at the dry leaves on the ground.

When the sun set in the sky he looked up. Night. Dark. Walkers.

It was like an in-built reaction in him now, the minute it got dark it wasn't safe to be outside. Or at least it was less safe to be outside.

He stood awkwardly, his legs stiff from sitting down for so long. He began meandering back to the camp, feeling like his body was moving on autopilot.

He wasn't thinking about Glenn, he couldn't. He could feel himself sat precariously on the edge and if he went to far he'd tip over, he couldn't think about him.

When he got back to the makeshift camp the group had set up he saw Rick, Shane, Dale and Carol sat huddled in a circle around a small fire.

Daryl rolled his eyes, one of their so-called town meetings.

They must have been discussing what to do with Glenn's body or how the hell they were supposed to deal with Daryl when he got back.

They all turned to look at him when he approached.

No one said anything as Daryl sat down slowly, his eyes were empty like they were made out of glass.

"Where is he?" He finally asked.

They all looked at each other cautiously and Daryl's eyes narrowed in confusion. Shane looked annoyed and finally Rick began to speak.

"He's in the R.V, Daryl."

Daryl's eyes remained confused. "What? Why haven't you buried him yet?"

Again, they all stared at each other for a long moment, Daryl felt ready to punch someone.

"You are going to bury him, right?" He continued, Glenn's words about burying their dead ringing through his brain, the thought made his head hurt.

"Daryl, we didn't kill Glenn." Began Carol softly, "we apprehended him and put him in the R.V, in there he can't hurt anyone, he can't himself."

Daryl stood immediately, kicking a stone into the air and screaming.

"Daryl!" Exclaimed Dale.

Daryl kicked the ground again, sending a cloud of dirt into the air, he didn't care if he attracted every walker in the damn world.

"Are you fucking insane?!" He shouted, "he'll kill you all!"

The group was silent, he was sure the rest of them could hear him but he couldn't care less.

"But..." began Carol, confusion mixed with comfort in her voice. "I thought this was what you wanted, we can take him with us to the CDC, we can find a cure."

"What I wanted?" Asked Daryl incredulously, "you think I want my boyfriend turned into a vicious killing machine and chained up in the R.V? Glenn is gone! He's not coming back!"

Daryl felt the pain he'd been trying so hard to block out knot in his stomach and he felt Carol's hands on him, leading him away.

Ever since this apocalypse, Carol seemed to be the only one the group aside from Glenn that understood him.

As Carol watched Daryl shouting and breaking and screaming, she knew that he was too close to Glenn to understand what they were doing, that the pain he was feeling was too ripe and too fresh that he wasn't thinking about Glenn, he was doing everything he could to protect himself from all the things that were threatening to make him lose it.

Carol had done much the same thing herself when her husband had died, it was something Daryl needed to do. She could already see the animosity this would cause in the group but she hoped they would understand, most of them had lost someone to walkers themselves but none of their situations had been quite like this one, he was needed too much by them all.

Daryl needed that stage of grief and he needed his defences up because if, by some miracle, they got Glenn back he would need Daryl in one piece and not a broken, fractured and irreparable soul.


	8. Grieving process

When I tell you I hate you

Chapter 8: Grieving process.

By the time they arrived at the CDC, Daryl still hadn't said a word. They had never seen him like this. Even Rick, who didn't know him as well as the others, was worried about him.

Rick stopped Andrea as she climbed out of one of the trucks. "Hey," he began, "I get that Daryl is pissed, but is he always this...unsocial?"

Andrea smiled. "Yeah, pretty much. I mean, he wasn't as bad as his brother, that's for sure, plus Glenn was always trying to drag him into the group, but I don't think he was having any of it. We all wondered how the hell it happened between them in the first place."

Rick watched as Andrea walked away, thinking about how Daryl was utterly destroyed due to what had happened to Glenn and wondering how on Earth she didn't know why they were together.

He shook his head and headed towards the RV. When he walked inside, T-Dog and Shane were already in there, pulling hard on the chains that held Glenn in place, ones they had acquired from an abandoned bike shed on the edge of Atlanta, but they had done the trick, Glenn hadn't moved since they'd set off, and now moving him seemed the trick.

Rick walked towards Glenn, or at least, the thing that had once been Glenn. His eyes were glazed over the same as the other walkers and his skin was tinged yellow from the rot, like he was suffering from jaundice.

His mouth was open, a gaping maw of dark teeth, but he wasn't necessarily snarling despite the fact he looked enraged.

"He's not moving!" Shane said gruffly, sounding out of breath, tugging on the chains wrapped so securely around his neck and wrists. "He didn't make that much of a fuss when we were driving here."

Rick cocked his head, Shane had a point. Glenn, the walker, had been restless but ultimately still and quiet on the journey, like a wounded animal.

However, now they were trying to remove him from the confines of his prison he was aggressive and strong, almost like he didn't want to leave the RV.

Rick imagined for a moment, only a moment, that Glenn, the real Glenn, still maintained some semblance of control, refusing to leave the RV, refusing to be near people that he could hurt, making sure he was as far away from Daryl as possible.

However, looking into the sightless face of the man who had once saved his life, Rick just couldn't believe that Glenn was still in there, he couldn't.

But he had to believe that they could bring him back.

…

Carol found Daryl sat against the back of one of the vehicles, shoving the tip of one of his bolts into the ground, before pulling it out and driving it back in again, the dirt below him was littered with small holes cracking at the edges.

"Daryl," she said quietly, but he didn't look at her. "Please." She said, after a few moments of silence.

Daryl shook his head but still didn't avert his gaze from the small patch of destruction in the ground, the hits of his bolt getting more frenzied.

"Y'all are crazy, do you understand that?" He said.

Carol stiffened for a moment. "Maybe we are," she said, "but we're doing this for you."

Daryl stiffened before looking up at her. "No, you're not. You're all doing this for yourselves, because you can't accept the fact that Glenn is gone, and because you're all deluded that there is some cure."

"Whether there is a cure or not, we still have to try, for Glenn, and for you."

"Will you stop saying that?" Daryl replied loudly, "stop saying you're doing it for me, this is the last thing I want. You think I want you to drag around the corpse of my boyfriend to remind how I failed him when I promised that I wouldn't?"

Carol couldn't stop it, the words stung like it was her own pain, her own loss, for a moment she felt like she were in Daryl's shoes and feeling everything he was feeling, she crouched down next to him. "Listen, I know you don't want this, but what you want and what you need are two very different things, you know Glenn wouldn't want you to give up hope."

Daryl shook his head and looked at Carol, and in his eyes was that childlike innocence Carol barely ever saw, those moments where Daryl was truly vulnerable. "You should have been there when he..." He paused for a moment. "When he died, he was so ready, Carol. He was so ready to die, he was so ready to be at peace and to let go, and you won't let him let go."

A tear dripped from Carol's eyes. "What if there is a cure?" She whispered, "what if there is and there is a chance we can save him?"

Daryl stood so suddenly Carol gasped out loud.

"There is no cure," began Daryl, quieter than she had expected. "I've lost everything," he told her, eyes wet yet full of anger. "Please, just let me mourn in peace."

He walked away without looking at her, she let her face fall into her hands.

…

With the added strength, they managed to pull the walker that had once been Glenn out into the parking lot.

He was snarling now, and every now and again he nipped a little too closely to Rick's neck. He tried not to be scared, he spent all the time trying not to be scared, but he found it hard to look at him, instead he kept his mind focused on Carl, on Lori, on the cure if there was one.

"Jesus, this place is deserted." Shane voiced, and he was right. The parking lot was empty aside from a few scattered, broken cars that were too damaged to be taken on the road.

The streets were bare, the wind whistling down them made everything eerie, and the large building across the parking lot that was the CDC looked abandoned.

_Shit_. Rick thought to himself, the grey building looked derelict and abandoned, letting go of the chain he was holding, he ran forward.

"Wow, hey!" Called out T-Dog, weighed down by the sudden weight of Glenn.

Rick looked up at the large metal framework that acted as a guard for the car entrance. "No, no, no..." He mumbled to himself, the fear inside him escalating.

"Rick!" Called out T-Dog again, but Rick ignored him. There had to be someone here, there had to be something, maybe the entrance was just heavily guarded and there would be scientists inside, there had to be a way to let them know they were out here...

"Rick!" This time it was Shane shouting and Rick turned, ready to shout that they could handle Glenn for five seconds until he saw that that wasn't what they were shouting about.

Off to the right, coming out of a little, empty side street, were two walkers. One male, one female. The female was dressed in a long summer dress stained with dead blood and her male companion was missing an arm, the rotten stump was extended out and the brittle bone was black with age and rot.

"Oh, crap." Exclaimed Rick, pulling his gun out of his belt and aiming at the woman.

"What are you doing, man?" Shane said in a whisper, "if you shoot, you could attract more of those things and we'll all be dead."

Grimacing, Rick put his gun back into his belt, Shane and T-Dog were no help to him, too busy restraining the quietly snarling Glenn, and all Rick had on him in the way of a blade was a small flick knife in his boot.

As he drew the aforementioned weapon he both decided to carry more knifes and cursed himself at the same time.

As they neared, the woman out in front, Rick readied the weapon, keeping all of his concentration in front of him.

She was getting closer, and closer...and then she veered. Rick stood, confused, for a few seconds as the woman walked around him like she couldn't even see him, he readied his knife for the man but he did the same thing, moved around Rick like he was trying to avoid him, they didn't even look at him.

Confused, Rick whirled around to see both walkers ambling around Shane and T-Dog, both of whom looked as confused as he did.

"What?" Shane mouthed at him, but Rick merely lowered his knife, eyes trained on Glenn, eyes glazed, mouth agape and every bit of the walker that the male and female had been.

"They didn't come near us because of him." He explained, "Glenn, they must think we're walkers or something."

He closed his eyes, even when he was dead, Glenn was still saving his life.

But now he had no way to tell the rest of the group who were parked a little further down that there were walkers on the way.

…

The rest of them were grouped around, encased in a circle of cars and waiting for Rick and Shane and T-Dog to come back and give them the all clear.

Lori, who had her arms around Carl, was staring at Daryl. Every instinct she had told her that Daryl should have gone with them, but she supposed no one was letting him near Glenn, even if he wanted to see him anyway.

She did, however, feel a small sense of relief that he was here with them, guarding their little circle from whatever walkers may come wandering by, it was too quiet.

"They should be back by now." Dale pointed out.

"Maybe they ran into walkers." Began Andrea.

"Maybe they just need to figure out how to get inside." Carol offered.

"Maybe it's empty," said Daryl quietly, off to the side. "Maybe there's nothing there."

No one had the guts to answer him.

"Mom," began Carl, tugging on Lori's shirt. "Mom, do you hear that?" He asked.

"Hear what, honey?" She asked.

"It sounds like walkers." He half-whispered.

Daryl immediately set his crossbow aloft, cursing himself. He was too busy self-pitying that he wasn't thinking properly, not paying attention to the little hissing noises he could now here, the unmistakeable sound of walkers.

Daryl watched as it walked up, a woman in a stained dress, and he took her out silently with a single bolt to the brain and she fell to the ground, Daryl wanted to go and retrieve the bolt but instead he grunted and sat back down, and the group fell back into silence.

"Wait," said Jackie after a moment, like she was straining to hear something. "Is it just me or...?" But before she could finish her sentence, the walker had crashed through the gap between the cars and put the remaining arm he had around Carol.

Her scream set off a loud commotion and everyone rushed to get out of the cars, climbing over hoods and screaming.

Daryl threw the crossbow aside, he couldn't aim with Carol so close, and as he drew a knife from his pants he felt fear, genuine fear as he rammed the knife into the skull of the walker and it fell to the floor. He knew why he was scared, it was because it had gone after Carol, it was because she might be bitten.

"Did it bite you?" He asked suddenly, but she was shaking too much to answer.

"Carol!" Said Daryl, louder. "Did it bite you?"

After a few moments, Carol shook her head and Daryl felt relief wash over him, although he tried to ignore it.

He looked over to the rest of the group, huddled together outside of the cars and staring uselessly at the pair of them and at the dead walker, they didn't help, they didn't do anything, they just screamed and ran, Daryl detested all of them.

"We made too much noise," said Andrea after a moment, "more will be coming."

Daryl shouldered his crossbow, "well, let's move, then."

…

Rick took his end of the chain, looking for something durable to tie it to while he figured out what to do.

"Dude, there's nothing there." Shane pointed out, trying to be comforting, "let's just go back, and I'll take care of..."

"No!" Rick exclaimed, almost shouted, "no, someone is here, we just need to tell them to open the doors."

"Rick..." Began T-Dog, but he stopped when he saw something move in the corner of his eye, he momentarily thought it was walkers but when he turned, he saw that it was just the group.

Lori, Carl, Dale...and Daryl.

Daryl stood, stock still, staring at the walker, staring at Glenn in chains. His crossbow dropped to the ground with a loud clang that made everyone flinch.

This was the first time Daryl had seen him since that first moment, since the moment he had turned and tried to kill him and it was like he was seeing him for the first time.

Daryl could vividly see Glenn walking into that bar after 7pm, he sat at a bar stool and stretched his arms in obvious discomfort and Daryl couldn't take his eyes off him.

It was then, despite the texts and the dates and the sex, it truly was in that moment that Daryl's life had changed forever.

And now, in this one, his life had changed again.

This walker, it looked so confused and so lost and so like Glenn that Daryl didn't have the strength to run and kill it, he didn't have the strength to fight or to hide, he felt every bit of that person he had been before the apocalypse come flooding back, and all he had to do was look.

"Rick," began Lori, "look, we made loads of noise, walkers might be coming."

"We need to get out of here," Shane prompted, "get back to the cars and move to..."

"No," began Daryl, picking up his crossbow from the floor. "We need to get inside."

He walked forward and joined Rick's side, eyes glancing towards the walker, towards Glenn. "There has to be someone in there."

"Daryl-" but they were cut off by the sound of snarling, the group turned to see a group of 5 or 6 walkers heading their way, weaving across the car park.

"Shit." Shane explained, dropping the chain that held Glenn to lift his gun. Without the help of Shane, one tug from Glenn was all that was needed for T-Dog to let go of the chain and leave Glenn free.

Rick barely had time to move before Glenn launched at him and knocked him to the ground.

"Dad!" Called Carl out in anguish as the group of walkers doubled in size and a mass of them began to bear down on the group.

"Glenn!" Daryl all but screamed, tearing the walker from Rick.

Shane was firing rounds into the crowd but he was barely making a dent, Lori kept Carl behind her to protect him and Carol clung onto her daughter, Jackie and Dale did the best they could to defend themselves with the blunt objects they were carrying but without Rick, Daryl or Glenn there just wasn't enough of them to fight them off. There probably still wouldn't be even if they had them.

Rick sat up immediately, miraculously unscathed, and turned away from the walkers and began banging on the metal door and screaming to be let in.

Daryl found himself staring into the face of the walker who used to be Glenn and couldn't move a muscle, he wouldn't even be able to protect himself if he needed to.

There were too many, they were trapped, they were backed into a corner and this was it.

Daryl buried his face in Glenn's neck, fresh tears in his eyes, just waiting for that feeling of teeth biting into his skin.

If he had to choose a death, he would at least want Glenn to be the one to do it, if he was consciously aware of it or not.

The screams and snarls around him seemed to fade away into nothing and Glenn's words rang in his ears.

_If I could do it all over again and it would still end this way...I would still chose you._

He clenched his eyes shut, feeling the tears sliding down his face. _Me too, Glenn. Me too._

All of a sudden, a bright light appeared, so bright that Daryl could sense it through his closed eyes, making the blackness of his vision a bright red.

_This must be death._ He thought to himself, Glenn must have bitten him, even though he hadn't felt him do it. Maybe it didn't hurt?

"Daryl!"

Daryl opened his eyes immediately as he recognised Rick's voice calling his name, he removed his head from Glenn, who was merely staring blankly at him, and looked up to see Rick ushering him forward into the light, into the bright, open door.


End file.
